Tips to Avoid Getting Colds on an Airplane
Feb. 25, 2007. While most travelers to luxury vacation rentals go by motor vehicle, a large number of winter travelers head for warmer climates by air during the winter months. These are also the months that people are most vulnerable to colds and flu. Many travelers would swear that they get sick after every trip or vacation.
As reported by The Independent Traveler, they may be right and the cause may be airplanes. It reports that, “Airline carriers are also formidable carriers of the common cold; a recent study says you may be more than 100 times as likely to catch a cold on a plane as in your normal daily rounds, according to a study publishing in he Journal of Environmental Health Research: Common cold transmission in commercial aircraft: Industry and passenger implications.�
The report indicates that the most likely culprit is extremely low cabin humidity when airplanes fly at high altitudes. At very low levels of humidity, the "natural defense system" of mucous in our noses and throats dries up and is crippled, creating a much more tolerant environment for germs to infect us. Of course, the fact that passengers are breathing recirculated air doesn’t help. On any large flight during the height of the cold and flu seasons, the chances are that at least some of your fellow passengers are highly contagious.
In a previous blog published on Oct. 24, 2006, we recommended certain steps to take to avoid getting sick. Among these tips were washing your hands with hand sanitizers and taking vitamins. My own favorite is Emergen-C, which is high in Vitamin C, but everyone should take what works best for them. I take a dose before and during the flight. If it is a particularly long flight, I may take more than one dose. Since I have started following my new routine, I have been free of the frequent colds that formerly plagued me when traveling frequently on airlines.
After reading the article in The Independent Traveler, I will add two more steps to my routine—1) Sipping water or some other fluid regularly throughout the flight and 2) Use of nasal mists to keep my protective mucous membranes working.
