Alcohol

Alcohol

There’s a real culture around alcohol use and business travel. The airport lounges serve alcohol – and top-end alcohol, none of this cheap stuff, and a sense that as a frequent flyer with a LOT of air miles, you’ve earned that free single-malt scotch in the airport lounge with your platinum frequent flyer card.

But hold that drink.

Jet lag has an effect on cognitive function that is similar to that of alcohol¹.

Do you want to be twice as drunk when you arrive at your destination? Because that’s the result of drinking when you fly.

And the idea that alcohol helps you sleep is nonsense.

“In healthy non-alcoholics, acute alcohol decreases sleep latency, consolidates and increases the quality (delta power) and quantity of NREM [non-rapid eye movement, a type of sleep] sleep during the first half of the night. However, sleep is disrupted during the second half”²

Also, alcohol increases the risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT)³. Flying results in dehydration and adding alcohol to this dehydration certainly isn’t positive for health. To sum up, avoiding alcohol when flying long haul is one of the best things you can do for your health. Not only will it minimise jet lag and preserve your clarity of thought, it could present a life-threatening DVT.

I’ve adopted “I’m dry when I fly” as a mantra when I travel, and I strongly recommend you do to.

Because the consequences of drinking when you fly aren’t worth it.