Need advice for handling night bus rides

I have a night bus trip to Tohoku up in Iwate soon to do volunteer work as part of an organized cleanup crew for the disaster through a program. I want to be well rested for the work, but I despise night busses simply because I cannot sleep on these damn things. I bring ear plugs, blanket and a pillow but either can't get to sleep, can't get comfortable or often both! I've tries taking anti histamine pills just to get to sleep but that just makes me a zombie the next day.

I really need some advice. How do I manage these rides on night busses and get sleep?

Thanks.

Too bad you can't use the Willer Express Cocoon service :
ﾃ｣窶堋ｳﾃ｣窶堋ｯﾃ｣ﾆ陳ｼﾃ｣ﾆ陳ｳ - ﾃ｣窶堋ｷﾃ｣ﾆ陳ｼﾃ｣ﾆ塚?｣窶堋ｿﾃ｣窶堋､ﾃ｣ﾆ停?氾｣ﾂ?ｮﾃ｣ﾂ≫?敕ｦﾂ｡ﾋ?･窶?窶ｦ | ﾃｩﾂｫﾋ愿ｩ竄ｬﾅｸﾃ｣ﾆ陳静｣窶堋ｹ/ﾃｦﾂｷﾂｱﾃ･ﾂ､ﾅ禿｣ﾆ陳ｻﾃ･ﾂ､ﾅ禿ｨﾂ｡ﾅ津｣ﾆ陳静｣窶堋ｹﾃ､ﾂｺﾋ?ｧ'窶 | WILLER EXPRESS

How long will the bus trip take? I took the night bus once from Kobe to Tokyo and didn't sleep too much either (maybe we aren't japanese enough?)

This link might be useful: Overnight Bus Tips From an Expert | BootsnAll Travel Articles

---------- Post added at 23:32 ---------- Previous post was at 23:32 ----------

Too bad you can't use the Willer Express Cocoon service :
ﾃ｣窶堋ｳﾃ｣窶堋ｯﾃ｣ﾆ陳ｼﾃ｣ﾆ陳ｳ - ﾃ｣窶堋ｷﾃ｣ﾆ陳ｼﾃ｣ﾆ塚?｣窶堋ｿﾃ｣窶堋､ﾃ｣ﾆ停?氾｣ﾂ?ｮﾃ｣ﾂ≫?敕ｦﾂ｡ﾋ?･窶?窶ｦ | ﾃｩﾂｫﾋ愿ｩ竄ｬﾅｸﾃ｣ﾆ陳静｣窶堋ｹ/ﾃｦﾂｷﾂｱﾃ･ﾂ､ﾅ禿｣ﾆ陳ｻﾃ･ﾂ､ﾅ禿ｨﾂ｡ﾅ津｣ﾆ陳静｣窶堋ｹﾃ､ﾂｺﾋ?ｧ'窶 | WILLER EXPRESS

How long will the bus trip take? I took the night bus once from Kobe to Tokyo and didn't sleep too much either (maybe we aren't japanese enough?)

This link might be useful: Overnight Bus Tips From an Expert | BootsnAll Travel Articles

Checked the link but nothing really applicable to my situation of needing to sleep that was new.

I think the trip will be seven hours.