How to stay healthy when flying

How to stay healthy when flying

We all know someone who flew home from vacation with an unexpected souvenir: a cold or a virus. It may show that you can get sick when flying, but that is not necessarily true. You can take precautions to reduce the risk of infection during a flight.

“It is better to be guided by data than to rely on hearsay,” advises infectious disease specialist Dr. Steven D. Mawhorter. "People think that gas prices always go up before holidays - but the data shows that prices rise and fall equally before holidays. The same selective memory can also apply to air travel and illness."

In the following, Dr. Mawhorter position on eight widespread assumptions about air travel and our health.

1. The air on the plane is full of germs

Incorrect.Sitting on the runway, the air may seem stuffy on the plane because (by HEPA filter with high particle efficiency) it is circulated so that we do not smell of fuel. That changes when you get to high heights. Half of the air in an aircraft at a height of 12,000 meters comes from outside the aircraft and is absolutely sterile. (It does not contain any microbes!) The remaining air is filtered with HEPA filters with high particle efficiency, similar to those used in critical hospital areas. And flight attendants do not become sick more often than the general public.

2. You get sick when another passenger is sick on the plane

Not necessarily.You can be exposed to an illness if you sit right next to, in front of or behind someone who has a cold, flu or (in rare cases) something more serious. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, diseases are rather unusual as a direct consequence of air travel. Remember that an annual flu shot is the best way to prevent flu, even if you are exposed to it.

3. You get sick when you sit next to a sick passenger

Not if you're careful.Covering your cough, washing your hands, and keeping your hands away from your face will reduce your chances of catching (or spreading) germs. Using hand sanitizer after touching surfaces touched by others is also recommended to prevent illness. (Just make sure your bottle contains less than the 100ml amount allowed by safety guidelines!) Hand sanitizer wipes are also an easy and airplane-friendly way to keep your hands clean and reduce risk.

4. If you didn't get infected on the plane, you probably will at the airport.

Possibly.The increased meeting of people at an airport carries a certain risk. If you are handled for a flight or go through the handling hall, you will probably come into contact with more people - and more potentially contaminated surfaces - than usual. This is the most important time to clean your hands with water and soap or a handdestinal infectant.

5. Good sleep helps you avoid infections

Correct. A recently carried out study has shown that the likelihood of getting a cold is greater than seven hours of sleep than with eight or more hours of sleep. Think about how you can get more peace from a trip before, during and on the way home. If you do not plan forward -looking, it can easily happen that you stay up long before the trip. For long flights, sleep masks, earplugs or headphones can promote sleep with noise suppression and a small pillow.

6. The intake of vitamins protects you from infections during the flight

Unlikely. A popular vitamin-mineral and herbal supplement claims to reduce the risk of infection during flights, but there is no data to support these claims. Small extra doses of vitamin C or D can't hurt, but good hand hygiene is more effective at preventing infections.

7. You can avoid a jet lag with carbohydrates and caffeine.

Incorrect.There are a lot of rumors about caffeine and carbohydrates, but there is no data that show that any "remedies" actually work against jet lag. One thing that doesn't help is to drink alcohol to fall asleep on the plane. Alcohol consumption promotes dehydration and dehydration worsens jet lag.

8. The thought of getting sick while flying increases the likelihood

Incorrect.She doesn't make fear sick, but she will surely affect her trip. Take the above proactive prevention measures to protect yourself and reduce stress.

Before you use the home remedies

Although our articles are always well researched and medically tested, we cannot predict which allergies, medications and side effects may occur when combined with different products. That's why you should always treat all home remedy articles with caution. We have also included appropriate warnings in each article so that you can also keep yourself well informed.

Trust in the home remedy

The biggest effect is always the placebo effect. Our bodies can do amazing things when we actually lose ourselves in the fact that a supposed home remedy actually works or doesn't. For example, there are countless studies that show that the drugs administered were more or less effective depending on the patient's attitude towards effectiveness.

Which home remedies really?

The best way to find out is to use our intelligent search function or browse through the categories. We have always chosen our headings so that you can tell from the outset whether it is an article about the effectiveness or an educational article against the effectiveness of the home remedy. Since we are constantly releasing new and updated articles, we cannot determine the exact number of home remedies, otherwise we would have to revise each article again. That's why we took 10 as a nice sum. Sometimes there are only 4 or 5 tools and sometimes 20.

Grandma's tips as a home remedy

Listen to your grandma. In over 80% of the studies, “Grandma's tips” could actually be demonstrated as effective. So your first point of contact should be either the grandma, or her memory of her words, what the topic of home remedies, acne
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