Your In-Flight Health Guide

Q. I have a big trip coming up. How can I stay healthy during a long flight?

A: As someone who travels extensively, I know what it’s like to sit for long periods in dry, noisy, air-conditioned cabins in close quarters with lots of people. If you’re unlucky enough to have someone coughing and sneezing around you, it’s hard to shake the feeling that you’ll be stepping off the plane at the end of the flight with more than just your luggage. A 2002 study found that about one in five people will come down with a cold within a week of flying, with women tending to pick up more bugs than men do. Long-haul flights could raise the odds even higher, found the US researchers. They suggested that the rise in sickness could be the result of having people enclosed in close proximity, or the immunity-lowering experience of changing time zones and lacking sleep. Either way, good hand hygiene is the best way to avoid picking up unwanted germs; be sure to pack a small container of hand sanitiser in your carry-on luggage.

To arrive at my destination as healthy and comfortable as possible, I drink plenty of water, decline alcohol and limit my food intake. I also strategically eat dark-chocolate-coated coffee beans (a few beans every half hour or so instead of the occasional coffee) when I want to stay awake to adjust to a new time zone. I also use valerian or 2 mg of melatonin to help me sleep when I arrive.

You can make your plane trip more comfortable by taking your own earplugs, neck pillow and eye mask. (Masks both provide totally dark conditions and let flight attendants know you don’t want to be disturbed.)

Also, take every opportunity to walk around the plane. While seated, kick off your shoes and try meditation and yoga exercises, such as pranayama (breathing practices) and pawanmuktasana series (joint mobilisation exercises).

By Dr Marc Cohen, professor of complementary medicine at Melbourne's RMIT University.