How to avoid health problems and keep fit during a long trip
Health problems
Before taking a flight, you must have wondered many times what to do to avoid unpleasant feelings concerning the flight, and what follows, how to maintain good physical and psychological condition of your organism. Reading the following text will tell you how to deal with the most frequent ailments characteristic to air passangers; but also what you can do to make your flight nice and easy.
Motion sickness
Unpleasant feeling usually appears right after the plane takes off when the horizon disappeares from your field of vision. To avoid sickness, remember to have a light snack, eg. fresh vegetables or some fruit before the flight. It is also good to have biscuits or muesli bars during the flight.
Right befere the departure try to keep from having strong coffee, tee, alcohol or cigarettes.
Take B1 vitamine which plays an important role in conducting nervous impulse and that is why it helps to alleviate ailments connected with static system disorders. You can also have rich- in-vitamine B1- diet, e.g. Cereal, rice, fish, asparagi, floury products or pork.
Powerful and proven specific for sickness is also a ginger-race. You can get ginger tea in any drug store or health-food-store. Drink it a few hours befer your flight and forget about nausea.
The place you take on a plane is also very important. It is best when you are given the possibility to choose the window seat right above the wing- the turbulence is not that severe there.
Earaches
Earaches appear due to air pressure variation and tend to be more acute while landing. Healthy passangers don't usually find them bothersome but passangers with the respiratory system disorders might feel much worse. This is why, if you happen to have sinuitis, otitis or rhinoantritis it is advisable to consult your doctor to check whether the flight will not make you feel worse.
To alleviate earaches you can yawn from time to time or swallow the saliva and if it doesn't help – take a deep breath, plug your nose and then try to blow out the air gently through your nose.You can also find chewing a gum helpful. Eventually, you can apply some nasal drops.
Jetlag
If you happen to change time zones while travelling, instead of enjoying beautiful weather or sites you might feel tired, irritated, unconcentrated or have a headache reaching the destination. These and many other ailments may be caused by the disturbance of the natural day and night rhytm while travelling from the West to the East – it is easier for the human organism to adjust to the longer day rather than to loose a few hours travelling Eastwards.
Tips for the Westwards travellers
- Try not to fall asleep during the flight. As far as it is possible, move around the place, drink a lot of water to overcome sleepiness. Eat the foods rich in proteins, such as cheese, fish or egg- they can help you reduce the feeling of sleepiness as well.
- A few days before the departure try to adjust your organism to the new rhytm systematically, for example try to go to bed 2 hours later than usually.
- If it is possible, choose afternoon flights. When in your destination, plan important meetings in the morning hours- your organism is the most efficient then.
- After the arrival, try to fight the overwhelming sleepiness, wait till the evening and than go to bed.
Tips for the Eastwards travellers
- Try to sleep during the flight. Be sure that your diet is full of carbohydrates ( fruit, potatoes, pasta, rice, joghurt)- they will all help you sleep better.
- A few days before the departure try to adjust your organism to the new rhytm systematically, for example not only try to go to bed 2 hours earlier than usually but also get up earlier the next day.
- Avoid sleeping pills and rather shift to natural and proven methods of dealing with insomnia, such as herbal tea.
- When you reach your destination and are due to have important meetings, try to arrange them in the evening – your organism would be more efficient.
- Avoid alcohol because it slows down the new time zone adjustment.
And a few more tips.
- Remember to set your watch accordingly to the destination time zone; it is best when you do it right afer you get on the plane.This will make it easier to adapt to the new circumstances after the arrival.
- Try to schedule the meals and sleeping hours to the standards of your destination. In the first few days avoid any type of exertion, let your organism adjust to new day/night mode - to get better spend most of your time in the fresh air.
- If you take medicines at certain time and frequency, consult the doctor before the departure.
Thrombosis
Intravascular clots of limbs may occur with the passangers travelling long distances unable to change their position. Usually, it might come unnoticed but sometimes swelling or numb sensations can be observed. Rarely the invascular clot can be that extensive to find its way to the heart or lungs causing fatal pulmonary hemostatis. However the symptoms like thoraxache or respiratory failure may occur even a few days after the flight.
It is worth mentioning that although the risk of intravascular clots is relatively rare, the passangers over 60, suffering from intravascular clots or pulmonary clots; overweight; preagnant; smoking contraceptive-users ; suffering from cancer; recently operated on; suffering from inborn blood clotting disorders or having varicose veins are particularly exposed to post-flight inttavascular clots. All of the people mentioned above should obligatory consult the doctor before a long-distance flight.
How to avoid thrombosis
- Try to bend down your arms and legs from time to time- avoid crossing them.
- Drink a lot of water – avoid alcohol and coffeine.
- Wear a comfortable and loose outfit.
Remarks
- People suffering from contagious diseases should not fly.
- Low humidity onboard may cause the eyes, mouth and nose dryness. Passangers normally wearing contact lenses should rather wear glasses during the flight. It is advisable for all the passangers to drink a lot of water to prevent from dehydration.
- Travellers with heart pacemakers are able to fly, however they have to remember that heart stimulators with unipolar electrode are prone to electronic interference during the flight.
- The passangers with chronic illnesses are recommended to consult the doctor before the flight.
