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How Flying Seriously Messes With Your Mind and Body (bbc.com)
dryriver writes: BBC Future has an interesting piece about how traveling in an airliner does strange things to people's minds and bodies, such as far more people starting to cry while watching even mildly emotional movies on airplanes than what is normal, some passengers experiencing decreases in acuity of sight, taste and smell (airline meals are over-seasoned to compensate for this), unusual tiredness or desire to sleep, your skin drying out by up to 37% percent and possibly becoming itchy, and some people breaking wind far more often than they normally would. Here is an excerpt form the report: "There can be no doubt that aircraft cabins are peculiar places for humans to be. They are a weird environment where the air pressure is similar to that atop an 8,000ft-high (2.4km) mountain. The humidity is lower than in some of the world's driest deserts while the air pumped into the cabin is cooled as low as 10C (50F) to whisk away the excess heat generated by all the bodies and electronics onboard. The reduced air pressure on airline flights can reduce the amount of oxygen in passengers' blood between 6 and 25%, a drop that in hospital would lead many doctors to administer supplementary oxygen. There are some studies, however, that show even relatively mild levels of hypoxia (deficiency in oxygen) can alter our ability to think clearly. At oxygen levels equivalent to altitudes above 12,000ft (3.6km), healthy adults can start to show measurable changes in their memory, their ability to perform calculations and make decisions. This is why the aviation regulations insist that pilots must wear supplementary oxygen if the cabin air pressure is greater than 12,500ft. A study in 2007 showed that after about three hours at the altitudes found in airline cabins, people start to complain about feeling uncomfortable."
It means a woman was sitting next to me by the window seat, we made sporadic awkward and stilted conversation during our meal, and she left halfway through claiming she had to powder her nose but never came back.
At least now I can claim it was mild hypoxia on both our parts. Usually it would only apply to my bits.
Altitude Adjusted Lachrymosity Syndrome. It's a thing. First mentioned on the BBC's premier film programme (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lvdrj/episodes/downloads) and detailed in their Witterpedia, http://witterpedia.net/wiki/index.php?title=AALS.
The Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 supposedly feature improvements in cabin air pressure, with pressurization to 6000 feet equivalent, as well as increases in humidity.
Unfortunately, they still aren't that common.
Some of those chemicals of the chemtrails will get into the cabin,
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
I had to fly a few weeks ago while I had a sinus infection. About an hour into the flight, the upper left side of my mouth went completely numb for about four hours. It was a bit scary, I thought I might have been having a stroke or something, but it seems to have just been severe sinus pressure from a blockage.
For those that didn't RTFA, it seems tomato juice tastes much better on a plane. I fly a lot and can say almost every airline also carries spicy tomato juice for bloody marys too.
My wife just asked me the other day why I always get tomato juice on a plane but not at home. Thank goodness for slashdot in helping me become more self-aware.
there are lots of common peculiar places for humans
I travel I need a night off. Land, eat, go to bed. Then the next day I can function properly.
Unfortunately, folks want me to do things as soon as I get off the plane and wonder why I'm yawning and scatter brained. A lot think I was drinking on the flight - can't. One drink and it's instant hangover.
Of course, not being able to travel well is a serious detriment to one's career these days.
Hyperloop....
Yeah! Airplans sucks!
Regards,
Elon
"If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid." - Epictetus
there are lots of common peculiar places for humans
Agreed. 100 years ago a peculiar place for a human would have been hurtling 70MPH down a freeway, surrounded by 10,000 other humans doing the same thing.
Today, humans are so ignorantly comfortable with that environment that they often read, smoke, eat, drink, and apply makeup while attempting to steer 2,000 pounds of steel down said freeway, trying not to run into the other 10,000 humans around them doing the same thing.
Yeah. I've shoved quite a lot of them into lockers, urinals, wastebaskets.. It's amazing how pliant they can be
When/where does anyone get fed on a domestic flight in 2017? Or is this a rehash of a story from the bronze age of flight (pre-9/11) when you stroll down concourses without tickets and could safely make your flight if you were there an hour early.
I was wondering why I was tearing up at the end of "Bad Moms" (of all things!) last week when flying from San Diego to BWI.
I should put something clever here. Maybe someday.
From where I live, the flight to Las Vegas is fairly long. Dehydration leads to raging thirst, and oxygen deprivation cripples my cerebral cortex so badly I usually wind up allowing the small auxiliary brain located just below my belt buckle to do most of the decision making.
Unfortunately, abstinence and virtuous behaviour are not exactly its strong suit.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
A study in 2007 showed that after about three hours at the altitudes found in airline cabins, people start to complain about feeling uncomfortable.
I'd be uncomfortable having to sit in those cramped seats for more than 3 hours regardless of the altitude.
not 2000 lbs, averaging 4000 lbs (as of 2010).
Ah yes, I forgot to calculate our overt addiction with buying never-go-offroad vehicles large enough to be considered military battlefield transport. I stand corrected.
I think Slashdot should try to make a "Metric First" campaign and apply it to its news posts.
This description of the airplane cabin seems to have a lot in common with my current workplace.
not 2000 lbs, averaging 4000 lbs (as of 2010).
Ah yes, I forgot to calculate our overt addiction with buying never-go-offroad vehicles large enough to be considered military battlefield transport. I stand corrected.
GP Is American. He was referring to passenger weight.
I kid, I kid. We're not all in the Gulf states.
Flying is terrible... use the HyperLoop.
Likely to have the same issues.
Boeing's relatively new "Dreamliner" has the passenger cabin pressurized at 6,000 feet over the customary 8,000, besides having more advanced air filtration.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
Well, that explains why the SkyMall gets any business: Hypoxia-induced purchases of stupid things.
That is bad, but the airlines these days seem to be focused on making a miserable experience even more miserable. I cringe when they close their introductory announcement with "sit back and enjoy the flight." Well, used to; these days I fly only when I have no choice.
Cars of 100 years ago were much less comfortable than cars available today.
http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
Fascinating post, article and lots of good comments on this - thank you.
With the caveat that I don't know what I'm talking about [ ! ] the article got me thinking about the way that our senses operate differently at altitude. Essentially, this means, "at a significantly different atmospheric pressure"... So obviously the first thin to think about is : what, exactly, is that pressure difference? Well, according to this calculator, at mide.com,
https://www.mide.com/pages/air...
A "typical" air pressure at sea level might be 101.325kPa[kiloPascals], in which case the corresponding air pressure at 8,000ft would be approximately 75,250 kPa - which is approximately 75% of sea level pressure. OK, for a "starting point", I'd hope we'd agree that this delta is sufficient for physical and chemical reactions to be potentially altered.
Then I got to thinking about passengers from a physiological perspective. Essentially, the human being is a mass of semi-permiable membranes. Yes, there is plenty of chemistry going on within us - turning foods into energy, for example - but it also stands to reason that our 5 senses are going to be quite sensitive to changes in pressure... For example - a reduced atmospheric pressure will mean that inhalations bring fewer air molecules in to our lungs, which would also surely involve changes in our sense of smell. OK, I don't know how pressure differential would impact the dispersal of scent chemicals in a gas mix, but there is likely to be a difference...
Our sense of taste is going to be based on diffusion and/or osmosis, as the chemical trace signatures of what we eat are absorbed and processed by the cells in our taste buds. But of course the actual mechanics of tasting are going to be based on chemicals being transferred into saliva and then offered up to the taste processing centres on our tongues. Whether the underlying processes are osmosis or diffusion, or a mix or variation is almost secondary to the point that there will be something like this underpinning the necessary chemistry that drives the sense of taste. Mess with partial pressures, absorption rates, osmosis or diffusion rates and it rather makes sense.
If we were sensitive enough, we might even expect to witness a very slight change in the sense of touch... Just as we know that limbs can swell in low pressure, so sub-cutaneous blood capillaries are going to change and this should impact our touch. Would sight be impacted? Perhaps, if the lower atmospheric pressure caused a slight outward swelling of our eyes?
The thing that really interests me, though is the comment from TheRaven64, where they observe that Gin & Tonic is "one of the few alcoholic beverages that tastes better at low air pressure." Describing something as "tasting better" is way too subjective for us to be likely to reach a consensus upon, but the observation of the change, alone, might be enough to suggest that there could be ways of compensating for altitude-related changes to our senses by altering the composition or chemistry of what we eat...
Lastly - just as a final thought - I wonder if gravity [or the absence of it] plays a part in our senses too? OK, so the reduction in the gravity we experience between sea level and 40,000ft might not be enough of a difference, but we could theoretically extrapolate by looking at feedback from astronauts as to whether ultra-low gravity environments impact their senses... I'd be very interested to know if we've got any readers who can better explain the relationship between the change in what we sense during a flight and the environmental impact on our physiology - I've just been guessing in this post, but suspect there's some pretty interesting material here somewhere...
One would think that if an airline company could design a plane or pressure system that improves the cabin pressurization to, say 2,000 feet or less, there would be a financial gain. More people would want to fly that airline. But I wonder about the cost of such a change. Would it require big changes in the aircraft's design?
How many pascal is 12,500 ft?
Assuming that pressure at sea level is 101325 Pascal and temperature is 15 degrees Celsius: 63182 Pascal.
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How Flying Seriously Messes With Your Mind and Body
In that case, instead of flying seriously, try flying frivolously.
Better known as 318230.
What do you mean? Regular pascal or turbo-pascal?
#DeleteFacebook
I was crying not because of the inflight movie, I was crying because of all the movies to choose from they *HAD* to pick Sisters of the Traveling Pants!
I wept because it was a 20-hour flight to Manila, from Houston. And I bought a round trip ticket, which meant I was going to watch it THREE MORE TIMES!!
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
Moist modern sedans weigh this easy
Yes, but what about their dry weight?
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
not 2000 lbs, averaging 4000 lbs (as of 2010).
Ah yes, I forgot to calculate our overt addiction with buying never-go-offroad vehicles large enough to be considered military battlefield transport. I stand corrected.
Moist modern sedans weigh this easy, don't even need to go to pickups or suvs (which weight closer to 6-8k). Camaro weight (it's a 2 door) is 3800 lbs. ABS, Airbags all take up weight.
Even a Prius curb weight is 3k
A Smart Car weighs in at 1800 lbs.
Moist sedans? :D
since all of the elder nerds would be able to convert measurements on the fly.
heck in this case divide feet by 3 and call it meters would work good enough.
Think of the children?!?! They're one of the things that make flying suck!
When did we start measuring air pressure in feet?
About the time that altitude-based pressure differences became a health concern.
Yes, this is news for nerds; I think you're looking for news for pedants.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Dear lordy lord, if only I could find a steel car which only weighed 2,000 lb. Someone tried to get me to buy an Opel GT once, but I couldn't actually fit in it. I wasn't even fat yet, I'm just too damned tall.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
The Brat From Hell kicking the back of your airline seat.
Quick fix - don't fly seriously.
I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
My 1983 Toyota Corolla in highschool weigh 1800 lbs! Granted it was a small car, but not as small as a smart car. What the hell are they putting in cars these days to make them so much heavier?
The multi-billion corporations want you to travel by air, however damaging it is — or may be — to your health and that of the planet. Oh, you say, it is a traveler's choice? No, it is not — though it was once an option, is now a necessity.
Bad for you, bad for the planet, bad for mom-and-pop operated vacation spots. Let's ban airtravel and boycott Boeing for enabling it!
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
The 787 is better, but other aircraft can be extremely noisy. Listening to that for 10 hours straight can really mess you up. Those who can afford them buy Bose noise cancellation headphones, but even cheaper Sony or Colby ones will work too at a push. Worse case, slip in some foam earplugs.
Think of the children?!?! They're one of the things that make flying suck!
Has it ever occurred to you how amazing it is that we were able to figure out how to engineer a gigantic metal bird that can transport large amounts of people to remote areas of the earth in a relatively short period of time? Is it amazing to you that flying is actually safer than driving? Is it amazing to you that this has enabled families to live in remote locations from each other and still be able to visit each other. It is truly REMARKABLE! And yet, here you are, complaining about something that is truly amazing as though you are entitled to some ideal thing without an ounce of gratitude.
Obligatory Louis C.K.
We'll make great pets
Mildly or otherwise.
It is most probably reacting to generally emotionally charged scenes.
From a comedy where all goes well in the end to the scene in an action movie where the hero is triumphant.
With a tendency towards crying at happy moments.
My guess... based on personal experience, and not even related to airplanes...
It's something related to low blood pressure and how that relates to oxygenation of the brain... and empathy.
Cause basically... people who cry at those emotional scenes are empathizing with the characters on the screen and compensating for their often exaggerated levels of distress (i.e. acted out in a over the top way) - by having an emotional reaction of their own.
I have a naturally low blood pressure. Also, my mom will get all teary-eyed when watching a movie.
I once cried watching this scene. At the time I thought that it was just the movie being so bad and that it was that "quality" which made me cry.
It's actually all that over the top melodrama, while sitting down, blood pressure dropping...
Brain then has to deal with images signaling the need for some great emotional relief, and the lack of oxygen making it emotional and basic instead of slow, calculated and rational.
Add to that the genetic component of predisposition for empathy... and you can have yourself a cry at the end of The Matrix, when Neo kungfus Agent Smith and then dives into him, exploding him from the inside and bending the Matrix to his will.
All in the privacy of your own home.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Just things like a steel structure that will keep you from getting killed in an accident. They are also physically much larger than your old Corolla.
“There hasn’t been much research done on this in the past as for healthy people these do not pose much of a problem,” says . . .
You're kidding me, right? The national air forces of the world have been sending people up for extended patrols for something like 8 or 9 decades and there "hasn’t been much research done" to study personnel performance reduction as a function of time, altitude, air pressure, oxygen, etc?
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." --The American President (20.1.2009)
Just a guess none of the posters live in the Mountain West.
8000 Feet? I climb higher than that just to fly fish!
Pretty sure no one from Denver or Colorado Springs has a problem.
Like why people are willing to spend stupid money on stupid products advertised in the airline magazines. Sharper Image probably wouldn't exist without the extra stupid provided by low oxygen concentrations on airplanes.
As a private glider pilot I'm well aware of both hypoxia and dehydration. Three things I always have when mountain flying (above 12.5k feet) are supplemental O2, portable H2O and salty snacks. The hypoxia thing is really serious. The 12.5k ft rule is a starting point. I played around until settling on a personal rule of turning on the O2 system when I'm above 10k ft. The difference in mental clarity is astounding! As for H2O, what goes in does come out. We have ingenious solutions to off-board that as well. :-)
dry air dry mouth...stuff tastes bland with a dry mouth
lower air pressure means the shape of your eye is slightly different.
airplane food + carbonated beverages + chewing gum makes you fart 37% more
dry eyes make you want to cry even without a sad movie.
I take blood pressure pills to give my kidney an easier time. When I fly, I wait till I get off the plane before I take the pill.
Because if I take it before I get off the plane, I feint. Airplane almost diverted one time.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
The Canyonero is 12 yards long, 2 lanes wide. 65 tons of American Pride!
Your arms get really tired, for one thing.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Americans.
Actually that's unfair; they're only about half the increase. The rest is iPhone dongles.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
I'll admit it. I fart much much more when flying than when not. Can't help it and no I'm not going to hold it for the 8 hour flight.
That's why I always fly with my emotional support dog. So I'll have someone to blame.
It's bad. This study proves it. We must therefore ban it. Think of the children. Social Justice Warriors unite! We should all live in safe zone "bubbles". Life will be perfect.
Haha, flamebait! Did the little wittle snowflake get their feelings hurt. Aweeeeeeee... there there little buddy...
We'll make great pets
I thought that was because they were sales people
Deep vein thrombosis. Blood clot on long flights, breaks loose and boom! You are dead. Tim Russert died as a result and a lot of older people, or those on long flights can be affected by DVT.
3500 "lb" is pretty common for a car these days.
If it has 5 seats, decent boot space, air bags, crumple zones, side impact beams, rollover protection, etc. It no longer weighs 1000kg, it's more like 1600kg.
Which in "Land of the pretend units" is about 3500 pounds.
You can't drive a dry sedan, you need to moisten them with water and hydrocarbons first.
Actually AC's got a point. Ignoring kPa and PSI air pressure is commonly measured with mmHg or inHg. Bearing that in mind "cabin air pressure greater than 12,500ft" would be lethal. The /. editors are getting worse as time goes by.
Just to be pedantic... FAA's "part 135 operating requirements" require that oxygen be used above 12,000 feet MSL (with a bunch of variations based on flight duration and aircraft type), so the original sentence conflated cabin air pressure with altitude.
It's always good to be precise, accurate, and technically correct. But it's pointless to get bent out of shape by a technical error where the author's actual meaning is clear.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Every review of that car is pointed out it has terrible, vague steering and aweful body roll
Top Gear US gave it 2/10
Auto Express gives it 2/5
The Guardian gave it 3/10
Consumer Reports put it in the 10 worst cars of 2013.
It appears to be a really shit car. Cheap, but shit.
Careful with taking passengers and luggage, the car is only rated to carry 400kg. You're 110kg of that.
I think driving would be much safer if every driver required the same level of training as aircraft pilots.
"foot" is not a pressure unit, I calculated the pressure at an altitude of 12500 feet (3810 meters), which indeed is weather-dependent.
The sentence "This is why the aviation regulations insist that pilots must wear supplementary oxygen if the cabin air pressure is greater than 12,500ft." from the summary is of course wrong (I guess that is the point you and the GP wanted to make), probably they wanted to say "if the altitude is greater than 12,500ft" or "if the cabin air pressure is lower than the air pressure at 12,500ft."
BTW, "pounds-force per square foot" is a pressure unit, I have no clue if anybody really uses it (living in the SI/metric world myself).
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