Drinking on planes: New study shows significant health risks

Travellers love to numb themselves to alcoholic beverages during aeroplane trips. Some do it to manage their fear, others for social reasons, or simply to kill time. However, it turns out that consuming alcohol during a flight is a terrible idea.

Scientists have published the results of studies that show combining alcohol and naps during a flight is the worst thing we can do for our health. According to researchers from the Institute of Aviation Medicine in Germany, this is due to the reduced air pressure in the cabin.

"The on board consumption of alcohol is an underestimated health risk that could be easily avoided. It may be beneficial to consider altering regulations to restrict the access to alcoholic beverages on board aeroplanes," the researchers stated in an article published in Thorax.

Researchers point out that heart and circulatory system problems are the cause of 7% of sudden medical cases during flights, and cardiac arrest accounts for 58% of all in-flight interventions.

Being in a hypobaric environment (with low air pressure) decreases oxygen levels in the blood and increases heart rate. Airline passengers with heart problems are at increased risk of symptom exacerbation due to the reduced cabin pressure at cruising altitude, which intensifies during sleep.

The authors of the text are certain that alcohol consumed during a flight has similar effects. To verify this, they examined 48 people aged 18 to 40. They discovered that the combination of alcohol and low oxygen levels at high altitudes worsens sleep quality and leads to prolonged low oxygen levels in the blood.

"The combination of alcohol intake with sleeping under hypobaric conditions poses a considerable strain on the cardiac system and might lead to exacerbation of symptoms in patients with cardiac or pulmonary diseases."

Source: Independent