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Tribune News Service

Whether your holiday plans involve a romantic getaway to a faraway locale or just a summer visit with the grandchildren, odds are a plane will be involved.
For the most part, planes are a great way to travel, health experts say.
“Overall, it’s a very safe mode of transport,” says Dr Leigh Speicher, an aerospace medicine specialist who is president of the US Civil Aviation Medical Association.
But commercial air travel does come with some health baggage.
Issues range from simple stress to complex physiologic changes that can affect the heart, blood vessels and brain-heart axis, says Dr Laurence Sperling, a professor in preventive cardiology at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, in the US state of Georgia.
Here is what the doctors say you can do to stay healthy in the skies.
Beware of the air?
On commercial flights, cabin air is usually pressurised to the equivalent of around 6,000 to 8,000 feet (1,829 to 2,438 metres) in altitude, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. That means passengers are inhaling less oxygen.
That pressurised air can also be dry – around 5 per cent to 25 per cent relative humidity, according to a research review published in the journal Clinical Cardiology in 2017 about air travel’s cardiovascular effects.
Sperling, a preventive cardiologist who founded the Emory Centre for Heart Disease Prevention, was the senior author of that review.

Speicher, who started piloting planes as a teenager, says most healthy people will be fine breathing the cabin air. But the CDC says the lower pressure can exacerbate problems for people with anaemia, underlying lung issues, cerebrovascular disease such as stroke, and other conditions that require supplemental oxygen.
The Clinical Cardiology review adds heart disease and heart failure, where the heart cannot pump efficiently.
If you have any concerns about whether it is safe for you to fly, ask a doctor, Speicher advises.
“Your best resource to talk to is your own primary care provider. Or, if you’ve had a recent heart attack or a stroke, it might be the specialist who’s cared for you.”
The lower air pressure in the cabin also causes gas trapped inside the body to expand, which can lead to abdominal pain, sinus pain or “aeroplane ear”, Speicher says. The CDC says decongestants can help with ear and sinus symptoms.
But because decongestants can raise blood pressure, they should be used for the shortest duration possible or avoided altogether by people with severe or uncontrolled high blood pressure, according to guidelines from the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology.
Flying dry

The low humidity inside a plane can lead to problems such as dry eye or a cough, Speicher says. To combat dehydration, she recommends travelling with your own water bottle, which you can fill once you clear airport security.
Be careful with caffeine and alcohol, she says, both of which can be dehydrating.
The air aboard modern planes is filtered and “cleaner than most of our homes and buildings that we’re in”, Speicher says. So when it comes to airborne viruses and bacteria, “it’s not like you’re being exposed to everyone in the whole plane”.
But you can still be exposed to germs from the people around you, she adds, and if you are sick, you can expose them as well.
“I’m not at the point where I would say, ‘Everyone needs to wear a mask for every flight,’” she says. But in case you end up next to somebody who is coughing and not wearing a mask themselves, “I think it’s lovely to have one on hand.”
Blood clot risks

The long periods of immobility that come with air travel can elevate the risk for deep vein thrombosis – clots that begin in large veins, often in a leg. If a clot travels to the lungs, it can be fatal.
Such clots are rare, but Speicher and Sperling both recommend using compression socks on longer flights.
Stay well hydrated, Sperling says, and keep blood flowing by not crossing your legs and by flexing your leg muscles while seated, or “getting up and walking in the aisle”.
But do not loiter. Turbulence can strike without warning, Speicher said. So when you are seated, buckle up, she said. “It’ll save you from injury.”
Do not skimp on sleep

Travel can interfere with sleep, which is considered essential for heart health.
Adjusting to a new time zone is trickiest when travelling east, Speicher says. “You just stay up a bit later when you travel west.”
Her simplest advice is to get exposure to midmorning light to reset your body’s internal clock when you travel east.
“It’s great to get sleep where you can,” she said. But be careful with alcohol, which might make you sleepy but can interfere with staying asleep.
Sperling cautions against taking any type of sleep aid or anti-anxiety medication that you do not take regularly. “Stick to your routine,” he suggests.
If your normal bedtime routine involves reading a book, try the same while you travel.

Have fun
“Air travel is important for people to see the people they love, their families, their friends, to experience new places and new beauty on this planet,” Sperling says.
So while putting in the work required by flying, do not lose sight of its rewards.
“We should be aware of the risks,” Sperling says. “We should be equally aware of the joy.”
Like what you read? Follow SCMP Lifestyle on Facebook, X and Instagram. You can also sign up for our eNewsletter here.


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Health & Wellness

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Flying can put you at risk of dehydration, thrombosis, lung and heart issues, and high blood pressure, so follow these tips to stay safe


Flying can put you at risk of dehydration, thrombosis, lung and heart issues, and high blood pressure, so follow these tips to stay safe.
