
How flying messes with the mind - el_duderino
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170919-how-flying-seriously-messes-with-your-mind
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davidmurdoch
I actually enjoy flying (the being in the air part). I've flown with Southwest
12 times in the past year (all for pleasure, no business or family-related
travel) and have had some terrible flights (like 2 hours sitting taxiway with
no AC in July in Florida), but I still enjoy the _flying_ part.

My flying tips:

1\. Travel with someone who also enjoys traveling.

2\. Be well rested.

3\. Drink tons of water the day/evening before so you are well hydrated.

4\. Chapstick and hand lotion.

5\. Bring your own entertainment, like downloaded Netflix shows.

6\. Bring your own snacks.

7\. Research the airports you'll need to navigate ahead of time so you don't
stress yourself out.

8\. Study the ground features as you take off and land. There are beautiful
differences and unexpected sights you'll notice when looking for them, even in
your home town.

9\. Don't drink the alcohol, even when it's free.

Of course, if you are afraid of dying, heights, or falling I doubt any of
these tips will help you.

My experiences are on short US flights from/to Orlando, so planes are
generally filled with cheerful Disney-going people. This study was done by
Europeans, presumably accustomed to European flights, whose "economy class"
flights are pretty uncomfortable and bleak, at least from my very limited
experience flying around Europe.

~~~
js2
10\. Try to strike up a conversation with the stranger you’ll be sitting next
to for the next X hours. I’m not even an extrovert, but this is my favorite
part of flying. I’ve sat next to some really interesting people. Some folks
don’t want to chat but in my experience that’s pretty rare.

Some strangers I’ve previously sat next to: a retired nurse flying to take
care of her mother in law who had dementia; a radiologist who had previously
been a physicist at fermilab returning from an MRI conference; a bar
tender/stripper; an evangelical who hosted asian exchange students; a heart
surgeon who specialized in ablasions for treating a-fib; a 60’ish year-old man
flying for his first time; a nanny/aupair; a Jewish grad student from Cape
Town.

The flights pass so much more quickly when you’re engaged in conversation, and
it’s pretty easy to get most people talking. Two of those passengers mentioned
above I ended up in a car with. I gave the evangelical a ride to his hotel
since it was on the way home from the airport for me. And with the radiologist
we missed our connecting flight and rented a car together to drive the last
150 miles.

~~~
mattlondon
Hmm.

Strangers trying to talk to me for the next X hours is one of the worst things
that can happen on a flight for me.

Even if they do respect my wishes and dont try and talk to me (doesn't always
happen), you then have the remaining 10h 59m of the flight to sit awkwardly
knowing that you've both managed to annoy each other for trying to instigate
something for your own selfish reasons that the other person doesn't want
(i.e. you want to talk and they dont, or you dont want to talk and they do -
no one wins).

Or worse if you dont manage to stop the conversation attempt early, you end up
talking to someone for the better part of 10 or 11 hours just out of
_politeness_ and all that work/reading/sleep/coding you wanted to get done are
lost while someone drones on and on about their garden or their last trip to
<destination>

Please - only start conversations if you're really sure the other person is
interested in talking to you! Particularly on long-haul flights!

YMMV I guess - I suppose on short-haul (<1.5 hours) it would be ok, but please
please please never do this on long flights! :-)

~~~
HeyLaughingBoy
My Mileage definitely Varies.

The pretty girl who struck up a conversation with me on the leg from
Minneapolis to Regina, SK was a large part of the reason I decided to move to
Minnesota. Single, introverted me decided that if women in MN were as
attractive and outgoing as her, it should be a nice place to live.

She turned out to be Canadian, but I moved to Minnesota anyway. Still loving
it 20 years later!

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ewzimm
More precisely: Oxygen deprivation, low air pressure, and low humidity can
alter your mood.

~~~
munificent
Those are all true, but I think we will eventually discover that the
psychological impact of flights is also real. Being packed in very close
proximity to a large number of strangers and having limited mobility and
autonomy for hours on end is a really unusual environment to put a hairless
primate in, regardless of how well-trained it is.

I'm mild-mannered, low key, and non-claustrophobic and even I get stir crazy
being cooped up in a plane after a while.

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TACIXAT
>There are some studies, however, that show even relatively mild levels of
hypoxia (deficiency in oxygen) can alter our ability to think clearly.

I do CO2 and O2 training tables for training longer breath holds. [1] I
sometimes do these while playing Overwatch. I have noticed that I play like an
absolute idiot while I am on a breath hold. I just end up making really tiny
mistakes that I wouldn't normally, or running into situations that I shouldn't
have.

1\.
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=gix.apneatrain...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=gix.apneatrainer&hl=en)

~~~
curun1r
Interesting...I've also spent a lot of time training in apnea, but I've never
tried to test my cognitive abilities while training. Instead, I try to get to
a state of meditative non-thought while training since it seems to improve
results. So, I'm curious...do the mistakes start immediately or do they only
kick in once you're near the end of your hold? The first 1-2 minutes of a hold
are so easy for me that I'd be surprised if there were many negative cognitive
effects.

Also, I used to get pretty severe effects from altitude whenever I'd go above
about 10k elevation. But since I've trained apnea, the headaches, nausea and
general crabbiness haven't happened and I've even been able to go for ~5 mi
jogs. So I'm curious whether people who've trained in apnea would be somewhat
resistant to the effects of flying just because our training has pushed us so
far beyond the effects of flying that our bodies are accustomed to it. Of
course it's also possible that we'd still be feeling the effects and just have
a blind spot to it because we're more used to noticing the end stages of
oxygen deprivation.

~~~
TACIXAT
I'm pretty new to it, so my rounds are only just above 1 minute. I might just
not have the CO2 tolerance yet, but I definitely notice some cognitive
effects. My blood oxygen saturation during these generally stays above 90%.
I'll try pay more attention to when the issues kick in and measure my blood
oxygen then.

I've read that it's around 50% saturation that you're in danger of passing
out, and most oximeters are only accurate to 70%. I've gotten no where close
to those numbers though, so it's likely just lack of CO2 tolerance.

~~~
curun1r
I wouldn't worry about O2 saturation with regard to passing out. When I've
done holds using an oximeter, I can't really get my SpO2 below 90% either,
even when I know I'm pretty close.

But there's just so much that contributes to being near blackout that isn't
oxygen saturation that you're better off learning to recognize the subtle
physiological cues. For example, you can blackout earlier (higher measurable
O2 saturation) if you inhale too deeply. It may seem counterintuitive, but
expanding your lungs more fully can increase pressure on the heart and make it
harder for it to distribute the blood to your body and brain. Your blackout O2
saturation will also differ depending on how much gravity your heart is having
to deal with. Standing, sitting and lying down will have different blackout O2
saturations and that's only considering dry training...in water, both swimming
position and depth/pressure will factor in too.

So when I'm doing a hold, the main things I pay attention to are first
diaphragm (first contractions, for me, are pretty reliably at 1/3-1/2 of a max
hold), and then the feeling in my fingers/toes, but you'll start to notice a
couple of other sensations as well if you start pushing yourself to the brink.
Incidentally, you can be pretty sure if CO2 tolerance is your limiting factor
if your first contractions come in the second half of your hold.

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Mc_Big_G
I just flew on a new Boeing 787 which claimed during the taxiing video to have
light and air pressure systems that minimize jet lag. I've never felt better
after both 10+ hour flights.

~~~
wenc
This is strictly anecdotal, but I flew a 787 to London (transatlantic) a few
days ago, and to be honest I didn't notice any difference (apart from the
chemically dimmed windows and the lighting) between it and most of the Airbus
planes I've been on. I'd actually venture to say Airbus equipment is a little
more comfortable.

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strictnein
The biggest mind bleep for me is falling asleep while taxiing and waking up
while landing.

~~~
magic_beans
I WISH I could do this. You have a rare gift.

~~~
dalbasal
The trick is believing.

Expect to fall asleep as soon as you are on the plane, eat before boarding and
avoid coffee. I could never do it until I could. Now I start yawning at the
gate.

~~~
curun1r
> The trick is believing.

For those that lack belief, Valium or Xanax should do the trick too.

I don't fly international often enough to worry about getting hooked, so 2
pills (one to sleep on the plane and one to force myself to sleep at the right
time once I reach my destination) have always made jet lag a easy for me.

~~~
dalbasal
You Americans are such extremists :). Straight to the hard stuff.

Valerian root works pretty well (especially with a small nip) and there are
some other lighter options like melatonin. Also sugar pills :)

Doctors here don't give you Xanax unless you're having panic attacks.

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mads
"Airplane noise and the taste of umami":
[https://flavourjournal.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/2...](https://flavourjournal.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/2044-7248-3-2)

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quuquuquu
I despise flying with a passion. I am usually pretty level headed in life, but
between the TSA, sardine seating, and assured death if something goes wrong,
it is hard to be comfortable.

Passing out before take off and waking up after landing would be a DREAM for
me! I usually am forced to take 3 benadryl and hope for the best.

There's a reason I haven't flown since 2012 :)

EDIT: Benadryl = diphenhydramine, which is cheap, non-prescription, and
usually acts within 25 minutes. Enough of it can put you out even after you
just napped.

"You are less likely to be in an accident in a plane than in a car".

The above is a true statistic, but more nuance is required.

Firstly, the most dangerous situation is driving on a two lane, no barrier
highway. This results in head on collisions, which often results in death.

If you can avoid that situaion, you are already doing better than most.

Additionally, you can control the type of vehicle you are in. A Miata is a
deadly vehicle. A large modern SUV is safer.

Lastly, when something goes wrong on a plane, it goes /really wrong/. Hijacked
= dead. Pilot error = dead. Fire = dead.

I don't to be killed or burned or maimed in a plane crash. I don't care if
that means I have to drive a large, safe vehicle or avoid traveling in certain
situations.

It is an idiosyncratic bias of mine, but it is an unnecessary game of russian
roulette that has low, but uncontrolable risk.

Opting out is the safest choice I can make, per my estimation.

Lastly, humans have a low chance of dying in a warzone.

But Syrians have a higher chance.

Avoid being in a war zone. Statistics are your friend, averages are not.

~~~
mnw21cam
> I usually am forced to take 3 benadryl and hope for the best.

Which would help because...? Acrivastine doesn't really have any sedative
effect at all. And taking three at once is quite an overdose.

~~~
exelius
Benadryl in the US is diphenhydramine, which definitely does have drowsiness
as a side effect. It's also pretty hard to OD on.

~~~
mnw21cam
You mean it's Nytol then.

~~~
freeone3000
If the box says Benadryl, is it still Nytol?

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Boothroid
I flew twice weekly for 18 months and used to feel dreadful the day after
flying.

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nunez
I fly a lot. I think that the #1 thing that makes people hate flying is being
inflexible about time. Transportation in general is complicated and has a lot
of moving parts (traffic, weather, accidents, etc.). Expecting transportation
to always be on time is a good way to always be frustrated with
transportation. So if you book a flight expecting the aircraft to arrive at
your destination by a certain time and then have an event planned soon after
that, you're going to be VERY upset when you discover that the flight was
delayed because of _x_

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catskul2
That article was all over the place and is in strong need of an editor.

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bob9292929292
I've travelled a dozen times for work this year and the best tip I have,
although not related to the flight itself, is to wear simple ear plus the
entire time in the airport. I hadn't realized just how much all the noise and
cross-talk announcements were having an effect but it makes a huge difference.

