March 25, 2006 | Episode 12
Trainor Rembe, manager of San Francisco's Flight 001, shares smart travel tips with host Brooke Alexander.
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How to Stay Healthy When You Fly
Experts answer four common travel questions
How do I avoid catching a cold in the air?
It’s a common myth that people contract all kinds of viruses and
colds when they fly because they’re “breathing someone else’s recycled
air.” Actually, the air on planes circulates from side to side, rather
than from front to back, so it encompasses only a small horizontal area
of seats. If the person sitting next to you has the flu, you might pick
it up from him, but if you’re 10 seats away, you should be safe, says
Abinash Virk, M.D., director of the travel and tropical-medicine clinic
for the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Still, you can guard
against infection by following this advice:
• Start your trip healthy. “Basically,
try to
get enough sleep, eat healthy foods, and avoid people who are visibly
ill,” says Thomas Bettes, M.D., corporate medical director for American
Airlines.
• Keep germs at bay by frequently
washing your hands. “You have to ask yourself, Are people
handling door handles, railings — not washing
hands? That’s basically how people pick up stuff, more often than from
being
on the plane itself,” says Virk.
Will taking a preventative supplement, like Airborne, or eating vitamin-rich foods protect me?
“Probably not,” says Virk of over-the-counter products like Airborne. As for loading up on foods rich in vitamin C and antioxidants, such as oranges, says Virk, “they would probably do very little in the short term.”
Should I avoid alcohol and caffeine?
Yes. “We usually tell people to avoid alcohol for long flights
mainly
because of jet lag and tiredness,” Virk says. And caffeine, she adds,
is dehydrating, which could make you feel uncomfortable during the
flight.
“The humidity inside an aircraft is about like it
is in a desert,” Bettes explains. “Sometimes the low humidity makes
people think they have sore throats and nasal irritation.”
Drinking lots of clear liquids will help counter that
effect. “That means nonalcoholic liquids,”
he says with a chuckle.
Should I worry about “economy-class syndrome”?
Deep-vein thrombosis, often referred to as “economy-class syndrome,”
is one of the most talked about health worries in air travel today. In
lay terms, it means a clot forms in the leg. And while most clots
dissolve by themselves, sometimes one will dislodge and end up in the
lungs, which can be fatal. “Sitting for a long time, like three or four
hours, can stagnate the blood in the veins of the legs,” says Stanley
Mohler, M.D., professor emeritus in the aerospace-medicine division of
the department of community health at Wright State University, in
Dayton, Ohio. “And it won’t get back to the heart because gravity is
holding it down in the legs.”
As scary as deep-vein thrombosis sounds, experts seem to agree that
frequent exercise during flight can help prevent it. Mohler recommends
a quick routine that involves bringing the toes up, tensing the calves,
and then tensing the thighs every few minutes. “It is important to walk
around as much as every hour on an airplane,” he says.
“Sometimes using a below-knee compression stocking is helpful,” says
Virk. “And, potentially, even taking aspirin may reduce the risk of
blood clots.”
Both experts recommend that travelers talk to their doctors if they have any concerns or questions before flying.
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