When it comes to flying, the British have a much-loved tradition of enjoying a pre-airport pint.
Often, this penchant for a bev to get the holiday started, continues once we board too, and an in-flight tipple tends to make the hours on board that bit more fun.
And of course, if you’re flying long-haul, it’s basically an open bar.
But a new study has revealed the impact of enjoying an in-flight alcoholic drink — and it comes with some pretty serious health implications.
The trouble arrives in combining alcohol with cabin pressure, which, at cruising altitude, can threaten the heart health of plane passengers. This is especially the case if you’re taking a nap after enjoying an alcoholic beverage or two.
Published in respiratory journal, Thorax, the findings show that this combination of sleep and booze can lower the amount of oxygen in the blood and momentarily raise heart rate – and age doesn’t come into it, as it can even impact people who are both young and healthy.
The results show that the higher the alcohol consumption, the greater the impact could be — particularly amongst older passengers and those with medical conditions.
The researchers are so concerned that they’ve suggested that there should be tougher restrictions on alcohol being served on board.
So what’s the science behind it?
Atmospheric pressure decreases exponentially with altitude, which causes a drop in blood oxygen saturation level to approximately 90% in healthy passengers at cruising altitude.
A further drop below this threshold is called hypobaric hypoxia (AKA, low blood oxygen level at higher altitude).
Generally, alcohol relaxes the blood vessel walls, increasing heart rate during sleep. As such, the authors behind the study wanted to decipher whether combining alcohol with cabin pressure at cruising altitude could have an additional effect on sleeping passengers.
This is the best (and worst) day and time to fly in 2024
Travelling is rarely smooth-sailing and it turns out that some dates and times to travel are much better than others.
According to new research, the best day and time to fly is on a Wednesday at 7am.
The research from HappyOrNot, the makers of the smiley face feedback surveys you see in airports, analysed data from more than 30 countries and 10 million customers, to find out which date and time gets the most positive feedback.
At 7am on Wednesdays, 84.5% of customers gave positive feedback about their travels.
So clearly the early start doesn’t dampen travellers’ spirits.
As part of the study, they randomly allocated 48 people between 18 and 40 into groups defined by their age, gender and BMI. Half of these people were assigned to a sleep lab under normal air pressure conditions, and the other half to a chamber that recreated cabin pressure levels at cruising altitude.
In each group, 12 people slept for four hours completely sober, while 12 slept for the same amount of time having drunk alcohol, which equated to two cans of 5% beer or two glasses of 12% wine.
The findings concluded that, amongst those who did consume alcohol, deep sleep (the N3 cycle, specifically) was significantly impacted, reduced to just 46.5 minutes under the combination of alcohol and cruising altitude levels. Without alcohol, passengers got an average of 67.5 minutes under this cycle.
‘Together these results indicate that, even in young and healthy individuals, 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,’ the study concluded.
‘Practitioners, passengers and crew should be informed about the potential risks, and it may be beneficial to consider altering regulations to restrict the access to alcoholic beverages on board aeroplanes.’
So, if you’re partial to tipple (or two), it could be time to reign it in when flying. In the interest of decent sleep, if nothing else.
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