Travellers wanting to get in the holiday spirit will often crack open a beer or treat themselves to a glass of wine before boarding their flights – but experts say the move could be deadly.
New research has found that falling asleep on a plane after drinking alcohol puts extra strain on the heart, which lowers the level of oxygen in your blood. The potentially fatal combination also increases the heart rate – even in young and healthy passengers. The more you drink, the worse the effects on your health could be, especially for older travellers and those with existing medical conditions.
Heart experts are now warning airlines to consider restricting on-board access to alcohol, particularly on long-haul flights. Dr Eva-Maria Elmenhorst, of the German Aerospace Centre in Cologne, said: “The situation might be different for passengers with pre-existing medical conditions. Their oxygen saturation might be low to begin with and then drop to even lower levels.
“So medical conditions might exacerbate leading to in-flight medical emergencies. I would advise people with heart or lung conditions to avoid drinking alcohol on planes.”
Sleeping on a plane after drinking alcohol puts extra strain on the heart (Getty Images)The findings came from a study that looked at 48 people aged 18 to 40. Half of the participants slept in a room with normal air pressure, while the others slept in an altitude chamber mimicking the cabin pressure of a plane mid-flight. Half in each group had also consumed the equivalent of two cans of beer or two glasses of wine. The other half did not drink any alcohol.
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Participants who slept in normal conditions with no alcohol had steady blood oxygen levels at around 96% with a sleeping heart rate of 64 beats per minute (bpm). But those in the altitude chamber who had consumed alcohol displayed a fall in blood oxygen levels to an average 85% with their heart rates increasing to almost 88bmp during sleep. Those in the altitude chamber who did not consume alcohol had an average blood oxygen level of 88% and a sleeping heart rate of 73bpm.
The team from the Institute of Aerospace Medicine in Cologne, Germany, said all the participants had slept lying down, so results may differ for travellers flying economy. They concluded: ”Together these results indicate that, even in young and healthy individuals, the combination of alcohol intake with sleeping under hypobaric conditions (cabin pressure) poses a considerable strain on the cardiac system and might lead to exacerbation of symptoms in patients with cardiac or pulmonary diseases.”
Older people were particularly susceptible to these effects. The team added: “Cardiovascular symptoms have a prevalence of 7% of inflight medical emergencies, with cardiac arrest causing 58% of aircraft diversions.
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