Though you can't solve this problem entirely, there are a few things you can do.ġ) Don't drink alcohol. (The new Boeing 787 Dreamliner, it's worth noting, will have slightly higher levels of air pressure and humidity.) Finally, intaking and pumping all this air uses fuel - so airlines are reluctant to pressurize any more than they need to. Moreover, because planes are designed to be lightweight, they aren't nearly strong enough hold in enough air to simulate pressures that you'd find closer to sea level. F ederal regulations only require them to be pressurized to 8,000 feet, though some experts have criticized this as a substandard level. Theoretically, planes could be somewhat more heavily pressurized to eliminate this effect. Sitting for extended periods of time causes your blood to disproportionately pool in your thighs and feet, which means your body is less efficient at circulating and oxygenating the blood, and your brain gets even less oxygen. What's more, other aspects of the flying environment exacerbate this effect. Even if they don't cause fatigue, reduced oxygen levels can also make your thinking a bit less sharp. "If you're flying for six hours and dropping your blood's oxygen saturation by five or ten percent, the fatigue factor is significant," Blue says. But even for healthy people who are used to the abundant levels of oxygen present at sea level, it can have an effect.įlying is like sitting on a 8,000 foot mountain for several hours As Blue says, "that's a significant difference for people who live at sea level, and aren't used to it."įor people with conditions - like heart or lung disease - that cause them to have special oxygen requirements, this is a big deal, and means they might need to fly with an oxygen concentrator, or not fly at all. In other words, to your body, flying is like sitting on a 6,000 to 8,000 foot mountain for several hours. "The cabin is only pressurized to simulate an elevation of 6,000 to 8,000 feet on modern jets," says Brent Blue, a doctor and longtime pilot. Still, the amount of air pumped inside doesn't result in quite as much oxygen as you'd normally breathe at sea level. If this didn't happen, everyone inside the plane would die, as the low air pressure at the elevations planes fly (typically 35,000 feet or so) means there isn't enough oxygen present for your body to function. Planes have lower oxygen levelsĪs a plane flies, air that flows through the engine gets sucked in, compressed, cooled, filtered, and pumped into the cabin. This is how flying can make you feel terrible. "A nytime you fly, you're exposing yourself to a different environment than your body is used to," says Jeffrey Sventek, director of the Aerospace Medical Association and a longtime aerospace physiologist for the Air Force.įor some people, this environment - with lower oxygen levels than the ground, extremely little humidity, and sudden changes in air pressure - can cause a bunch of negative symptoms. People talk a lot about the many awful aspects of flying nowadays, but one that gets less attention is the way that sitting in a small, pressurized metal tube at 35,000 feet for several hours wreaks havoc on your body. Do you feel inexplicably crappy - tired, dehydrated, and headachy - every time you fly?
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |