As I sit here in the airport, I am surrounded by people hacking, sniffling, and breathing heavily from their mouths. I am in a bit of a panic. Things that never worried me prior to having kids, like a sniffle or a sneeze, make me shudder as I think of the weeks it will take to work the sickness through each person in my household. Seriously, this is big! Who wants to take precious vacation time, get sick, and then take care of a family of sickies? NOT ME and probably not you!! In my panic, I start searching websites on my phone for ways to remain healthy while traveling. With every desperate glance around Gate C, my paranoia thickens with pale faces and running noses, “did that person go to the bathroom again?” – GET ME OUT OF HERE. I try to negate my anxiety with practical answers to a sniff and a sneeze by telling myself it could be allergies or the dry air. I am probably making people nervous as I am mentally spraying Lysol in their direction with my non-poker eye daggers.
As my heart-rate slows from my initial panic, I actually learn a lot about simple things I could have done and still can do to better my chances of surviving my vacation without bringing home an illness. I figure I may as well pass my knowledge along as you embark on your own traveling adventures this holiday season. Game-on Germs – we will be better prepared for you!
10 Tips to Stay Healthy while Flying this Holiday Season
- Hydrate. We all know drinking water and staying hydrated is our best defense against sickness in any instance. Caring.com suggests bringing an empty water bottle to fill in a water fountain after security – which is brilliant – save money and reduce waste. If you are thirsty on-flight and they haven’t come around with the cart again to fill you up, ask your attendant. They always have more bottled water available.We also know drinking water leads to the inevitable use of airport restrooms and/or on-flight toilets.Which, if we are being truthful here, is why we don’t drink a lot during our travels. We want to avoid these public petri dishes as much as possible. (Take note: Yahoo suggests not using on-flight tap water to re-fill your water bottle or even wash your hands, especially on international flights because planes re-fill their potable water tanks at each site and water could be contaminated in some areas with less regulations or microbes our bodies may not have the right anti-bodies for.) So when you do encounter public restrooms and/or on-flight accommodations be prepared with my #2 item, hand sanitizer.
- Hand Sanitizer. Use hand sanitizer to defend against surface germs. If you use the restroom, wash with soap, hand sanitize and REPEAT. Unfortunately, public places are full of people who are not good hand-washers (if hand-washers at all) and airports and planes are riddled with these disgusting creatures. This is winter (flu and cold season), so sanitize-up people and make it a staple in your carry-on.
- Sanitizing Wipes. Wipe your food tray. What? I immediately thought, “who brings sanitizing wipes on an airplane,” until I read CheapAir.com’s Travel Tips: How to stay healthy while flying, where a study showed MRSA (a type of staph infection) to be present on 60% of tested food trays. They also mentioned e-coli lives for up to 72 hours on an un-washed food tray. Yeah folks, e-coli is from feces and is absolutely disgusting. Never put your snack down on your tray if you have not wiped it prior to use. I may never use one again, unless I have wipes, which from now on I will after this trip.
- Wash Hands Often. Washing your hands is your first line of defense against surface germ encounters. Washing hands for 20 seconds in warm water with soap keeps a lot of sicknesses at bay. It is important, especially when traveling, because people are prone to rub their eyes, nose, mouth, basically all facial orifices that give microbes a direct route to your body. This increases when they feel dry from let’s say, a cabin humidity of 25% or less and gliding through the arid atmosphere of what feels like 8,000 feet. You know you do it, I do. If you don’t have access to clean potable water for washing, refer to my #2 item, hand sanitizer.
- Hands to Yourself. Don’t touch things unnecessarily and do not put your hands near your facial orifices, which you already know if you are even remotely worried about catching anything along your travels. But keep an eye on your children as well. I know mine tend to lick things and constantly have their hands in above stated orifices that contaminate our systems. In that case, wash everyone’s hands a lot and also have hand sanitizer at the ready. Use your elbow to push open doors and use paper towels to turn off facets after washing hands.
- Facial Tissue. Yahoo’s article, Airplane or Giant Germ-Mobile? 10 Ways to Stay Healthy While Flying says, “blow your nose, don’t sniffle.” Microbes love mucous so you are more likely to get sick if you don’t rid yourself of excess snot.
- Healthy Consumption. Bring healthy snacks and eat light meals. If possible, eat a healthy breakfast and consider yogurt for its probiotics. Look for light meals at restaurants and avoid anything with too much sugar or fat. Sugar is a catalyst for sickness, says WebMD’s article, Keeping Healthy While Flying. Also, alcoholic beverages are big hydration suckers, so avoid consuming alcohol while traveling.
- Use the Airplane Air Blower. Consider this your personal bubble maker. Business Insider’s article, 13 tips to avoid getting sick on a flight, says to set the blower on low/medium and to point it in front of your face so that if you have your hands in your lap you can feel it. This acts as a defense against airborne microbes from the non-elbow crook sneezers present on your plane, which according Slate and new research from MIT, “… it (a sneeze) can travel as far as 200 feet–all thanks to a previously undetected gas bubble known as a ‘multiphase turbulent buoyant bubble.’” Just another turbulent you don’t want to contend with in the air!
- Move. Blood clots and DVT are real and not just for the old and pregnant. Get up and move on the plane during long flights. If you have a layover, walk around the airport a bit and stretch out. Here is an infographic on how to properly sit to ensure the best blood flow through your body. It is also important you stay hydrated and wear loose-fitting clothing to keep circulation going in your body.
- Avoid On-flight Materials. Do not, under any circumstance, use the provided pillow, headphones, or blanket unless they come in sealed packaging. Sanitize your hands after using any screen controls. Dress in layers and pack a headrest. Do what you need to do to be comfortable for your flight.
As your holiday travels unravel, I hope these ten tips help ward off the germs trying to infiltrate your holiday spirit – just relax, visualize your happy place and most of all be armed with item #2.
Kasey
About the author:
Kasey B. Wright is a small town, small business kind of girl with nature in her heart. She grew-up working long hours at her parents general store in amazing Joseph, Oregon – Google it, oh wait, here’s a link – visit! Really- Arts, Camping, Resort on Wallowa Lake, Mountains, 52 high lakes, Gorgeous! Enough with the free advertisement, but truly it is amazing – Google it! Now days, if not twiddling away on her iMac, painting, or mentally re-designing pretty much everything, she is outside with her family enjoying all of the adventures that lay beyond her front door (which in Missoula are abundant and basically start within a five-minute radius of her house). Her family, a husband of whom she met as a freshman in college (architect – I know two designers and yes, nothing ever gets done), our dog (neurotic first child wire-haired pointing griffon), cat (shelter cat – maybe the most adjusted member of our family), and 3-year-old twins (girl+boy) in chronological order, keep the adventure alive!
