The Unhealthy Skies - Natural Health Journals

by Robert McGarvey

There you are, soaring six miles above the earth, shoe horned into a seat that wouldn’t provide enough legroom for Danny DeVito. You woke up extra early just to get in a workout before your flight, but now you’re beginning to wonder if that final set of leg presses was such a good idea. The cabin air is as dry as the Kalahari Desert, and your ears are so plugged you may as well be swimming laps. “Can this be healthy” you ask yourself. Just then, the guy sleeping next to you coughs, rustles, and kicks your shin. Hmm, probably not.

I got my answer, not on the plane but well after I had retrieved my luggage. 1 crawled into my doctors office with a cough so loud, so powerful, my whole body shook. 1 don’t know what it is, but you probably caught it on an airplane because it’s not from around here was the docs not-so-reassuring diagnosis. In fact, every year people die as a direct result of health disorders developed during plane travel. Many more get dreadfully sick. SEW more suffer minor, but aggravating, ailments.

If you’ve gone to the trouble of investing in your body’s fitness on land, then you should also take the time to learn what happens to your body when you’re airborne, and what you can do to ensure that you keep training at peak efficiency. Here’s what top medical professionals say about the following common in-flight health threats-and the precautions you should take to protect yourself.

DEEP VEIN THROMBOSIS

Also called economy-class syndrome, DVT annually kills off dozens of passengers worldwide. There isn’t much to worry about on any flight shorter than eight to 10 hours, but even young, fit, active passengers are at risk.

Causes: Blood clots that form in the calves during very long flights, then break loose and float up to the lungs, with potentially fatal results. In one case that garnered global head lines. a fit, 28-year-old English woman got off a flight from Sydney to London and collapsed before she left Heathrow Airport. She died en route to a hospital; as a result, the Australian government launched an official investigation into DVT. Nowadays long-haul carriers (among them British Airways and Singapore Airlines) hand out leaflets to passengers that inform them about the condition.

Solutions: Fight back against DVT by getting up and walking around for a few minutes do so every hour or two. You develop the clot because you are immobilized for hours. Moving around helps’ says Lewis Kohl, DO., chairman of the department of emergency medicine at Long Island College hospital in Brooklyn, NY, Those little walks may Keep you alive on lengthy flights.

While the flight crew won’t welcome strenuous exercise in the aisles, the following two simple movements can be performed (about once an hour) in your seat to help stave off DVT:

Plant the balls of your feet on the floor. Raise your heels as high as they will go, and hold that position for a minuteThen reverse the move: Plant your heels and raise the balls of your feet as high as they will go, again for a minute.
With your feet on the floor, gently roll the sole of one foot inward. Repeat with the other foot. Then gently roll one sole outward. Repeat with the other foot. Do this for one to three minutes every hour.

DISEASES

Think that the risk of contracting infectious diseases on an airplane is a myth? Not so, says Winker Weinberg MD. advisory board member with Georgia-Pacific Health Smart Institute in Atlanta, Ga.

Although the risk is low, Weinberg says there have been cases of tuberculosis in which the infection was traced back to an airplane trip. However, take some comfort from this surprising piece of information: Air on planes is continually filtered and is “remarkably clean” according to Kenneth Dardick, MD, medical director of Connecticut Travel Medicine in Storrs. He says that the filtered air on an airplane is probably cleaner than the air you breathe at home or at work (not to mention in the gym).

Causes: “Coughing” says Weinberg. Any condition, from influenza to TB to the common cold, that can be transmitted via a cough, a sneeze, or any discharge of fluids circulates easily in the cramped quarters of a plane.

Solutions: Although you are at a higher risk for catching some kind dullness, take all the right precautions and you’re likely to get off the plane in perfect health. The best thing you can do is wash your hands frequently, especially when you use the john. Diseases lurk on the toilet-flush button and in the sink. Use hot water and lots of soap to kill off those nasty germs. For added protection, a swipe with an antibacterial wipe knocks our plenty more germs, so pack a few in your canyon. You can always try to change seats. Sir behind a cougher if at all possible.

BURST EARDRUMS

We’re not talking about those annoying little pops in your cars. This is serious stuff that can cause permanent hearing loss, says Peter Roland, M.D. chairman of the department of otolaryngology head and neck surgery at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Every year, a significant number of people wind up with ruptured eardrums

Causes: Abrupt changes in cabin air pressure particularly during descent. Many of us routinely feel a little discomfort (if you do, chew gum), but a few are in for bigger troubles, including anyone who goes on board with nasal stuffiness,” says Roland. If you hop onto a jet with a cold or allergies, your risks increase, lie warns.

Solutions: If you simply can’t miss that flight “use an over-the counter nasal spray; that usually solves the problem,” says William Mall, M.D., immediate-past president of the American College of Physicians-American Society of internal Medicine. It sounds simple, but a burst of nasal spray preferably before boarding and well before you feel pain in your ears can he a fast cure.

Here’s a special warning for scuba divers: “Never dive and fly on the same day; that puts you at high risk for burst eardrums,” says Roland. The ears have enough of a struggle adjusting to the pressure differences between the deep sea and the ground. Toss in the effects of high altitude and make sure to listen closely to your ears popping, because that may he the last sound you hear.

“Go down 60 feet in the morning for a final dive, then rush to the airport for the flight home and you’re risking your hearing,” says Roland. “Never do it.” (To avoid decompression sickness, divers are recommended to wait after their last dive before (lying. For diving involving decompression stops, the wait should be more than 18 hours.)

DEHYDRATION

This isn’t something you should worry about only on your cardio days. “It’s a problem for many flyers; they dry out and get fatigued,” says Hall.

Causes: Dry airplane cabins, which typically measure around 10 percent humidity-about what you’d find in Arizona’s Sonora Desert.

Solutions: Drink plenty of wateralcohol and caffeinated beverages dehydrate you even more. A pint of water an tour will put you right. “But it’s hard to get that much water in coach’ says Hall. `Bring your own Smart travelers do it all the time.”

SORE BACK

“Sitting on a plane isn’t exactly back-friendly,” says Scott Bautch, DC, president of the American Chiropractic Association’s Council on Occupational Health. “Coach seats aren’t comfortable if you’re more than 4 feet tall,” says Bautch. These are one size fits none.'”

Causes: Cramped legroom and having to awkwardly man-handle your carry-on.

Solutions: There’s not a heck of a lot you can do to make a fight more comfortable but Bautch says you can ease back strain and pain by sticking the little pillows that flight attendants hand out between your back and the seat. But don’t scrunch it all the way down: “Put it about four fingers above your belt line.”

Normally you have no problem pressing a pair of dumbbells overhead for 12 reps, but your body’s not ready for that level of effort after being cooped up on a plane. At flight’s end, before jumping Lip and grabbing that bag stowed in the overhead, heed Bautch’s advice: Do a few shoulder rolls. Take a couple of seconds to warm up. People inflict damage on their bodies by doing heavy lifting when they are stiff and knotted up.”

JET LAG

Don’t think jet lag is only a matter of feeling drowsy. “It can seriously affect your ability to concentrate,” says Gary Kay, Ph.D.> director of neuropsychology at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. And that means a lot is at stake for active travelers. You’ll be at a distinct disadvantage negotiating a big deal hours after stepping of a Ins Angeles-to-Hong Kong flight.

Causes: Time changes, which disrupt your internal clock. The result: Jet lag throws off vigilance,” the ability to focus. “I definitely wouldn’t lift free weights without a spotter, not for the first couple of days after along flight,” Kay says, advice that’s just as pertinent to rock climbers, surfers or boxers. How long does a flight have to be to trigger jet lag? With many travelers, a mere three-hour time change (a coast-to-coast flight) still do it.

Solutions:

Sleep on the plane. Even an hour will help you arrive rested.

Drink lots of water on the flight and soon after landing take a long, leisurely lukewarm shower and continue to hydrate. (Experts pinpoint the dehydration that naturally occurs in the cabin as a prime cause of jet lag).

Once at your destination, keep moving until the hour reaches your normal bedtime, or as dose to it as you can get. Get outside and walk around; keep active. Do not take a nap upon arriving. That’s a surefire way to throw off your internal clock.