"Dry airplane air is bad for health." -Fairechild

DRY AIR
By Diana Fairechild

In-flight air is drier than any of the world's deserts. Relative humidity is 20-25% in the Sahara or Arabian deserts, while optimum comfort is around 50% humidity.

In-flight cabin humidities gradually fall on long-distance, high-altitude flights in many cases approaching 1%.

Basically, there's no way to avoid the fact that your body will become dehydrated to some degree as a result of flying long distances in near-zero humidity in commercial jet cabins. So we need to be mindful of our water intake en route, and also remember to drink plenty of pure water for several days after landing.

Without adequate water intake, both health and inspiration quickly deteriorate.

In-flight dehydration is one of the most serious hazards long-distance flyers face.

SYMPTOMS OF IN-FLIGHT DEHYDRATION

Thirst, scratchy eyes, bloodshot eyes, dry skin, wrinkled skin, backed-up plumbing, and more.

Without adequate water intake, health and inspiration quickly deteriorate.

8 TIPS TO AVOID DEHYDRATION

• Drink at least eight ounces of water every hour en route.

• Carry your own bottle of drinking water when you fly, to sip on when service is not available (right after takeoff or when the bar carts close prior to landing) and/or when flight attendants are not in your section.

• En route, ask for bottled or canned water when the bar cart comes by. (Avoid tap water on airplanes. There are no standards for commercial aircraft water tanks, for cleanliness, treatment procedures, nor water quality in cities around the world where commercial jets refill.)

• Avoid alcohol and coffee; they have diuretic properties, i.e., they squeeze water out of our cells.

• Spritz your face often; use an empty perfume atomizer and refill it from your own drinking water or buy a water spritzer (used for ironing).

• For humidified breathing air, cover your nose with a water-saturated cotton handkerchief. (Fold on the diagonal and wrap ends around your ears.) Leave it on as much as possible during the flight. It will also help to block the spread of germs -- even tuberculosis.

• After landing, submerge and soak in water as soon as possible--the ocean, a hot tub, a pool, a bath, whatever is available that you enjoy. Immerse entirely, and especially your head. Bathing when dehydrated helps to replenish moisture right through the pores. Bathing also relaxes the nervous system.

• Before you fly, apply an edible vegetable oil inside your nostrils to protect the delicate mucous membranes from the abusive dry cabin air. I definitely do not recommend petroleum jelly. Picture this: anything you put in your nose, you are ingesting right into your brain. Try almond oil from the health food store. It smells nice. Jojoba oil is also good and a little thicker. Organic olive oil is now easy to get and it will also do the job.

FROM READERS

"Thank you for the tips on keeping my nose moist on long flights. While growing up, I had a friend who got frequent nose bleeds, but the only time my nose ever bled was when I was hit in the face with a soccer ball--until I spent 20 hours on a flight that took me from Dallas to Chicago to New York to Buenos Aires, to Santiago, Chile. Somewhere between New York and Buenos Aires my nose started to bleed. Since I never had nose bleeds, I knew it had to be from the dryness of the cabin air. Now I am planning a return trip. Thanks for the tips."-- M. Ferrin

"I will definitely be asking for 'more fresh air.' One thing I've noticed is that in coach, I tend to feel hotter. I have to have the air blowing on me full blast the whole flight, and even then I perspire sometimes. But this never happens in first class. It doesn't seem that the cabin temperature is different, but *I* seem to heat up for some reason. This may be due to light hypoxia, as it is a symptom in some people." -Tony [DF: Yes. I believe Tony is right. I also experience this symptom of hypoxia]

"I read with interest, your information that if you didn't feel well to ask the attendant to bring you a portable oxygen bottle. On a recent Southwest flight from Las Vegas to Fort Myers, Fl with a stop in Nashville, I was having trouble breathing and asked the flight attendant if oxygen was available. She said yes, but if I took the oxygen they would have to call 911, and upon landing at Nashville the paramedics would meet me and I could not reboard the plane. My wife and I did not want to spend the night in Nashville so I forgot the Oxygen since we were only twenty minutes from Nashville.When we started our decent I began to feel better and felt better as we landed. I asked the Captain what altitude we were flying at and he said 41,000 feet with a cabin pressure of 8500 feet and admitted it was unusually high. The flight from Nashville to Fort Myers was uneventful. So before you ask for oxygen you had better be on a non-stop flight to your destination or plan to spend some time at an intermediate stop." -Don Drumm