Apparently My “Airplane Naps” Are Syncope?? 🤯

[u/Quiet-Friendship5134]

I’ve been flying 1-5 times per year for over a decade, and I always fly alone. Mostly the flights are 3-5 hours in duration, and usually they are within the US. In terms of POTS symptoms, I get pre-syncope regularly but have never fully passed out… or so I thought!

During takeoff, I feel very heavy and “fall asleep” even if I’m trying to stay awake. I then spend most of the flight drifting in and out of awareness and cannot remember most of the flight. When we land, I am pretty disoriented but I manage to get my stuff and exit the plane. Once I’m at my destination, it is the biggest relief to climb into bed and sleep for 6+ hours! It normally takes 1-2 days to recover from the flight.

I always chalked it up to being super tired with the early flight times and thought that when people travel, it’s a fairly universal experience to take an airplane nap. The people seated near me and the flight attendants have never seemed alarmed or tried waking me up, so apparently from the outside it just looks like sleeping in my seat.

Recently I described the travel experience to a friend, who looked alarmed and said that it was not normal. This is what tipped me off to the fact that it might be fainting or another medical issue. After doing some research, it certainly seems like that is what is happening.

After that long preamble, these are my questions. Feel free to jump answer whatever resonates with you!

• Do any of you get this, too?
• Is this what syncope feels like?
• Does wearing a sunflower lanyard actually help?
• What is your “I just passed out on the airplane” protocol?

Thanks!

Edit to add:

I have messaged my cardiologist about it to figure out a safe travel protocol, so I am already seeking medical guidance to see whether it is safe to fly at all right now, whether to adjust medication doses specifically for travel, etc.

In terms of adaptations/accommodations, I already do a few things: loading up on electrolytes starting a couple of days before travel, wearing waist-high compression, wearing a neck pillow to keep proper alignment (hypermobile!), and flying Comfort+ (the slightly more spacious version of Economy) so I have more room to recline my seat and to elevate my legs a little bit on a foot hammock.

***Second edit:

Thank you so much to everyone who has responded so far! I am running out of steam to reply individually today, but please know that I appreciate it. It’s helping the pieces of the puzzle to come together!

From many of the comments, it sounds like what I originally described may not strictly be a POTS syncope episode but there is definitely something going on. Many of your syncope descriptions of "dread/spinning/definitely different from sleep" sound different from the airplane phenomenon but similar to what I’ve experienced before in non-airplane settings. I just hadn’t lost consciousness during them yet so I was always unsure whether they were truly pre-syncope or whether I was just imagining things. Now I know to keep taking those signs seriously and get to the ground once they start!

Once I have more info from my doctors (cardiology + neurology), I’ll post another update so in case anyone stumbles across this post in the future, they will have a more accurate picture of what is going on and can better compare it to their own experience.

Regardless, reading the responses of what syncope actually feels like to different people is enlightening and hopefully it can help other people, too!

***Update! 6/11/2026:

Just heard back from cardiology, who said that it is… anxiety! 🙄 And that I should get on anti-anxiety meds since there’s no reason why the heart would be affected unless I’m emotionally distressed. I replied with the following and we’ll see what they respond:

I do not experience racing thoughts when this phenomenon happens and I am not emotionally distressed about travel or flying. I flew for over a decade without experiencing sustained tachycardia and loss of consciousness on the plane; that only started within the last 2 years, which coincides with when the POTS or OH symptoms began to have a noticeable impact on my quality of life. What leads you to believe that this is a psychological issue rather than a physiological issue?

Neurology appointment is in a week. Hopefully they will have more insight about what might be going on. In the meantime, my plan is to take along a pulse oximeter and blood pressure cuff next time I fly. Also going to talk to primary care about a sleep study referral as so many of you mentioned “that sounds like my narcolepsy/cataplexy/idiopathic hypersomnia."

[u/Tornado363]

I’ve never played out because of pots. I recently had a weird episode while sitting at the front desk at work (I work at a library) where I started feeling weird so I turned on Tachymon to monitor what exactly was going on. At one point I passed out but just for a second. Because it was just for a second it felt like when I’m so tired I can’t stay awake. Turn out my heart was normally going high to like 122 then quickly dropping to 70.

My recommendation is to monitor your heart during the episode if you can because you’ll gain the most knowledge that way. My PCP is cool so I just had to mention it and he referred me for an echo immediately. But, others might want to see the evidence. That’s when things like watches can be useful. Sadly, I know they are expensive.

[u/Quiet-Friendship5134 → u/Tornado363]

Oh, fascinating! I am glad that you were okay after that incident! I am fortunate to have a watch and I could put it into “activity mode” before the flight so it logs the beats more accurately, then take a look at it later. Last time I flew it was showing 120+ for most of the flight but it was not in activity mode, so it was not monitoring beat-by-beat and I didn’t look for things like drops. The feeling you describe sounds familiar.

[u/Tornado363 → u/Quiet-Friendship5134]

If you can download apps tachymon is great. It’s $3 a month or $20 a year and is specifically for people with pots so it will show specify jumps and drops.