Experiencing fatigue and bloating in-flight is common for many passengers, especially on long-haul flights. More often than not, the culprit is your adjustment to a different environment.
If you have ever felt tired, bloated, or like your stomach is full after being in an aircraft cabin for several hours, you are definitely not alone.
The twist is that it’s not just the food served on an airplane that causes these symptoms; it also occurs due to several factors occurring while onboard. For example, when the airplane’s cabin pressure changes, your usual sleep schedule is interrupted and meal times differ from what you would normally eat at home; all of these factors affect the way your body works.
Consequently, when your normal habits or routines are changed, it impacts your body’s performance negatively as well.
Many travellers feel fatigued and/or bloated while aboard an airplane because of the various physiological responses of their bodies adjusting to travel conditions. Other travellers may find that they develop fatigue and/or a bloated stomach as a result of continuously being aboard a plane for extended periods of time.
To put it simply, your body is trying to acclimate to conditions than it typically does at an altitude of thousands of meters.
A significant factor that affects how smoothly your body transitions from one condition to another is something that many people do not think about: breaking their routine.
Many medical professionals agree that flying requires people to break from their daily routine. For example, you may wake up at a different time, skip meals or eat meals when your body is not used to eating.
Let us look at the example of an individual who typically has breakfast between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. Most of this same individual will consume breakfast at 2 a.m. when flying on an early flight.
Your digestive tract may not be pleased with the change.
Changing the timing of your meals can have a different effect on your digestion, which may slow down or act differently. Consequently, you may have symptoms such as bloating or the sensation of fullness.
Productivity can be disrupted by flights departing either early in the morning or late in the evening. If routine is disrupted by either of these flights, the body occasionally responds to the flight schedule as short-term stress. Stress hormones released can also affect how hungry you feel, how well you digest food, and how well your body produces energy.
For these reasons, some individuals do not feel like eating during a flight while others feel stomach discomfort.
Travelers who leave for the airport at unsociable hours tend to not be well rested. Travelling while fatigued contributes to feeling fatigued earlier on flight.
Aircraft fly at lower altitudes than on the ground and can cause a lower oxygen concentration within the cabin compared to what we experience everyday. These factors do not affect the safety of flying; however, for some travellers there may be increased feelings of fatigue more quickly, than normally.
Lower humidity in an aircraft can lead to mild dehydration during flights and can lead to feelings of weakness and lethargy (sluggishness).
Putting these factors together creates a good recipe for fatigue to occur from: different times to eat, lack of sleep, dry air, lower pressure and lower production of oxygen.
These factors also can affect digestion in two ways: (a) negatively affected digestion from the above conditions; and therefore (b) negatively affected engery levels from the above, too.
Before you travel, make sure to get as much sleep as possible. You’ll also want to drink plenty of water throughout the flight, as being airborne dries your body out faster than being on the ground.
The things you eat and when you eat them prior to boarding your flight do matter. Lighter meals and regular hydration will generally help keep your digestion stabilized during travel.
The sensations of bloating or fatigue that occur during travel aren’t a cause for concern. They’re simply your body adjusting to the altitude of 35,000 feet above sea level.
