Follow these tips to achieve your goal!
Flying is a lot less glamorous than a few decades ago, but it’s still a necessity. Whether traveling for business or pleasure, let’s be honest, traveling for the holidays can make you feel like you have invested a lot in this flight and you will not lose it.
And for many travelers, nothing changes when they are sick. A recent survey by MatressFirm of more than 2,500 travelers found that 75% of them would not cancel a non-refundable flight if they had a cold or flu. Remember these statistics next time you see your flight: There are many chances that some of the travelers near you are flying-sick.
But does that mean you have to reach your destination even under the weather?
“Airplanes, trains, and cars are the backbones of the holiday, and they’re also the perfect breeding ground for disease,” said Michelle Barron, an infectious disease specialist at UCHealth.
“Think about how many handles and surfaces you touch when traveling, and how often these surfaces (door handles, seats, lamps) are cleaned. It’s best to get active yourself: horizontal surfaces, easily accessible objects such as trays, bathroom handles and handrails are the area’s most likely to be contaminated by viruses and bacteria. How often are they affected?” says Dr. Barron.
This is because viruses that cause the flu and colds can live on surfaces for minutes or hours and bacteria that can cause illnesses such as skin and gastrointestinal diseases can live for years. For example, if you touch one of the contaminated surfaces and then your mouth or eyes then you can easily introduce insects into your body and get sick.
So your move is to carry a pack of antiseptic wipes with you as Clorox wipes. Then just clean the area under the surfaces in front of you, especially those that you will eat. When done, scrub your hands with a hand sanitizer. While you fly, keep your hydration upright.
“Good hydration causes less drying of the mucous membranes (the inside of the nose and mouth). So shoot to drink eight ounces of water or more per hour and also minimize alcohol consumption, which contributes to dehydration.
Try to eat foods like yogurt or kefir, which contain probiotics, and fresh fruits and vegetables that are loaded with healthy vitamins and antioxidants “says Dr. Barron. This is a problem because it can facilitate the entry of germs.
“And if you worry about germs and if you know that they will give you a coughing, wheezing, wheezing sensation, you can take a more extreme step out of a face mask. I was sitting in front of a woman with a bad cold, constantly sneezing and coughing, it was a full plane, so I could not move, so I put on a mask so as not to get her germs!” says Philip M. Tierno, Jr., Ph.D., Professor of Microbiology and Pathology, NYU School of Medicine.