My column usually extols the virtues of travel. It is an opportunity to expand horizons, increase cultural awareness, practice language skills and regenerate. This month, however, I find it my unfortunate duty – as the unchallenged authority on IR business travel – to report on the health hazards of flying. Beyond the psychological indignities of scheduling, packing, check-in, securing items in cramped overhead bins and so on, airplanes can overwhelm the healthiest of immune systems.
Consider that the air you breathe on a plane is over 50 percent recycled. To give a trendy example, Sars is spread when someone coughs or sneezes droplets of contaminated, microscopic goo into the air. In the dry and confined environment of an airplane cabin, that droplet doesn’t have to travel far to find itself a new victim.
‘Dry air may well also cause a higher susceptibility to colds and flu,’ says travel medicine expert Dr Dale Prokupek, a Beverly Hills doctor with a jet-setting clientele. ‘Humidity levels descend in planes, drying out the mucous membranes so that inhaled viruses and bacteria can dwell longer in there.’ The result? An increased risk of infection, particularly on long-haul flights lasting a dozen or more hours.
Most planes have a mix of fresh and recirculated air, the latter pumped back after ‘cleaning’. Their manufacturers claim planes clean air to the standards of a hospital clinic (would you want to breathe hospital clinic air?). Fact is, airlines save about $60,000 per plane per year using recirculated air. Clearly it’s a racket. And there’s no-one checking to make sure these filters are being maintained properly.
Confinement in a ridiculously small seat exacerbates the health crisis. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) occurs when a clot blocks a major vein. Long plane trips set the stage for DVT because decreased air pressure reduces anticlotting and relaxes the vein walls. Dehydration, a chronic problem on long flights, adds to the problem.
As you sit immobile for hours, blood pools in your leg veins. Pressure from the seat against the legs – worse for the tall or fat – irritates the vein behind the knee. When a clot breaks free, it begins a fascinating journey of its own. The resulting embolism can shut down the blood supply to the lungs and death can occur in minutes.
Dr Prokupek refers to DVT as ‘coach-class syndrome’ because narrow economy-class seats limit opportunities for movement. Yours truly has, of course, urged you to avoid economy class in previous columns. DVT is one more very good reason to sit up front.
‘The dry air on planes, consuming alcohol, caffeine and salty snacks, and inadequate intake of water – they all thicken the blood and increase its tendency to clot,’ says Dr. Prokupek. ‘In addition, they exacerbate the symptoms of jet lag.’
Jet lag? Yes, it’s true. If you manage to escape with your life, you’re bound to spend at least a few days dozy or at least slightly dysfunctional. Dr Prokupek confirms that jet lag is the most common debilitating result of long-distance travel: ‘Patients complain of sleep disturbance, exhaustion, digestive problems and headaches.’
Research shows jet lag can cut the ability to make decisions in half. The ability to communicate declines by a third and attentiveness is reduced by 70 percent. Short-term memory may be cut by 20 percent.
Shot through the sky in a dry tube, strapped into a seat that’s pressing against your veins and creating clots, arriving half as smart as you were at home – it isn’t exactly the recipe for a good roadshow meeting.
‘People always say that the value of face-to-face meetings cannot be underestimated,’ says Dr Prokupek. ‘But how can that be if you’re only 30 percent alert?’
Time to learn how to use that new videoconferencing system your company just installed. If you must travel, however, here are some survival strategies:
– Sit as far up front as possible. It’s no secret those in first class are enjoying better blood circulation, not to mention better food. You’re much less likely to get DVT if you’re lying flat when you sleep. Otherwise, try a pillow between the back of your legs and the seat.
– Get an aisle seat so you can get up and walk around as much as possible. That way those DVT clots will be less likely to form. With all the fluids you have to drink to stay hydrated, you’ll need to be getting up constantly anyway.
– Counterbalance dry air with nose ointments and glycerin lozenges. Increase water intake and avoid coffee, black tea and alcohol, which dry you out more.
– Get into the local rhythm fast. Upon arrival hold off sleep until 10 pm local time and then get a good seven hours, aided by a sleeping pill if necessary.
Morgan Molthrop is vice president of investor relations at Infonet Services Corp in El Segundo, [email protected]
