For anyone who's been on a flight for longer than an hour or two, the feeling of aching and lethargy will be familiar.
Cooped up in a small aeroplane seat and with limited refreshments available, you can easily feel a little down and depressed when you've been flying for a few hours and it also has an effect on your fitness - something which is made all that much worse when you're making a long haul flight and have jet lag to contend with.
Fortunately, there are several ways to combat these problems and make sure that you arrive at your destination feeling just as refreshed as you did when you set off.
1. Lose some weight - unless you're flying business class, the seats aboard the vast majority of airlines leave something to be desired. They may be comfortable for a while, but if you're around the 6 foot mark or taller and are carrying a few extra pounds, you've going to become uncomfortable particularly quickly.
What's more is that if you increase your fitness levels, lose weight and develop your level of health before you fly, you're less likely to suffer from health problems often associated with flying, such as issues with your circulation like Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT).
2. Drink when flying - we're not talking about alcohol here, which should be avoided when onboard an aeroplane (this applies to any caffeine based products, too), but water or diluted juice drinks.
Due to the same air being continually circulated when flying, it becomes dry really quickly, which can in turn dehydrate you.
By drinking plenty of water and skipping on the beer and coffee, you'll find that you don't feel as lethargic when you land as you have done in the past when you've haven't drank as much water whilst flying.
3. Do some in-flight stretches - you'll no doubt have heard about them, but how many times have you actually took notice of them and carried them out?
Most aeroplanes will have a card in the back of all seats (along with the emergency procedure and magazines) that details several in-flight stretches. They don't often require for you to get up from your seat (although this is a good idea if you're travelling for more than an hour or two) and often revolve around you loosening any tight clothing and moving your limbs to ensure that blood circulation is as good as it can be.
4. Stay up on your first night - if you've been on a long haul flight and feel tired when you land, unless it's at night, try and stay up until 10pm.
It can be tempting to give in to the jet lag straight away and try and sleep it off, but if you do this, although you'll feel better when you wake up, you'll find that you're waking particularly early in the morning, which means you're going to be going to bed early and it will take you a good few days before your body adjusts to the local time zone. This is fine if you've got a few weeks in the country, but not so good if you're only staying a few days.
Stay up on that first night, however and whilst you are still likely to wake up earlier than you normally would the next day, there's more chance of it being closer to your normal waking time.
Author Resource:-
For more information about fitness, visit the Fitness First website.
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