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Before your flight
Wear comfortable, loose-fitting clothes and low-heeled, comfortable shoes.
Pack a warm sweater in your hand luggage. The air-conditioning system can lower the temperature inside the cabin considerably.
Take all the time you need to deal with flight formalities in advance so as to begin your trip in the right frame of mind.
Do not exert yourself.
Avoid rich food.
Moderate consumption of liquors, tea and coffee.
Limit nicotine consumption.
Apply a good moisturising face cream.
After check-in take a walk through the terminal.
During your flight
Make sure your safety belt is not too tight to prevent circulation problems.
Stretch your legs and arms every two hours or so. Get up every now and then and walk up and down the corridor or carry out simple stretching exercises to prevent circulation problems, swollen legs and feet, muscular tension and back pain, both cervical and lumbar.
Consume light meals, eat with moderation and limit soft drinks, tea and coffee.
Drink a lot of natural water, preferably in small quantities and frequently.
Moderate your consumption of liquors - at a high altitude the body absorbs them more easily because of the low pressure of the air inside the cabin and dehydration caused by air conditioning.
Limit nicotine consumption.
Replace your contact lenses with spectacles to prevent eye irritation. Always take off your contact lenses before sleeping.
On long-haul flights in particular, reset your watch to local destination time immediately after take-off to adjust to the new daily rhythm as soon as possible and reduce jet-lag symptoms.
Engine noise may prove irritating, especially on long-haul flights. In this case, we recommend you use ear plugs or listen to a relaxing music programme.
After landing
Walk slowly through the airport to reactivate circulation.
Sit comfortably and lift your feet in the air.
Take time to rest if the time difference is more than five hours, keeping in mind that the effects caused by the change in body rhythms are more evident when flying eastwards than westwards.
If you arrive at your destination in the morning, make sure you stay up all day and do not go to sleep.
Health
Pregnancy
Flying is not recommended during the first three months of pregnancy and in the period immediately before birth. Consult your physician and the airline company before buying an air ticket.
Blood pressure
If you suffer from high blood pressure, consult a specialist before flying. Changes in cabin pressure can cause serious circulation problems. Moreover, low air pressure can cause sudden toothache.
Travel sickness
Children in particular often suffer from nausea during long flights. However, turbulence and air pockets can disturb adults too. Travelling sickness can be eliminated by taking specific medicines before flying.
Dehydration
Cabin air is very dry and this can cause dehydration of the skin and mucous membranes of the eyes, nose and throat. Drink at least half a litre of liquids for every hour spent on board, avoiding soft drinks and liquors. Before travelling ask your doctor or chemist for special nose and eye drops to prevent dehydration.
Ear-ache
Sudden changes in altitude and pressure, especially when landing, can cause sudden ear-ache. Balance the pressure in your ear by pinching your nose between your fingers and blowing out air through the nostrils with compressed lips, or try lifting the back of your tongue as far as possible inside the palate. Yawning and swallowing can also prove to be useful remedies.
Jat-lag
Jet-lag syndrome is a general feeling of malaise experienced for a few days after arrival following rapid travel across multiple time zones (generally from five upwards). It is caused by the difficulty of adapting biological rhythms and the normal sleep/wake cycle to the new time zone. Some of the most common symptoms are: sense of fatigue, insomnia and loss of appetite.
Pre- flight
Prepare yourself psychologically to the time zone of your destination by resetting your watch in advance.
During the flight
-Try to sleep when travelling eastwards. It is not necessary when travelling westwards.
-Move around as much as you can to get your lymphatic and venous circulation going again.
-Walk along the corridor and do simple exercises moving hands and legs and rotating ankles and neck.
After the flight
- Try to adapt to the local time zone immediately.
- Avoid sleeping in the daytime even if you are tired. Wait for night-time.
- Observe meal times.
In-flight exercises
The first and most simple tip is to move your feet and legs for a few minutes each hour when sitting down and to get up frequently for a short walk down the corridor.
We also recommend wearing comfortable, low-heeled shoes and, if necessary, to request medical advice for the use of drugs to dilate the blood vessels. Moreover, it is important to drink lots of water when travelling and limit the intake of alcoholic drinks. Finally, do not cross your legs when seated.
Hands
Rapidly open and close the fingers of your hand; repeat 20 times for 5 consecutive cycles.
Neck
With your shoulders relaxed, bend your head to one side and roll it gently forward and back, holding each position for about 5 seconds; repeat the exercise for 5 consecutive times.
Shoulders
Keep your feet flat on the floor; hunch your shoulders forward, then upward, then backward and finally downward, in a gentle circular motion; repeat for 10 consecutive times.
Back
With both feet on the floor and stomach held in, bend slowly forward sliding your hands along your legs down to the ankles; hold the position for about 15 seconds; slowly return to an erect position.
Knees
-Lift one leg at a time, with the knee bent, while contracting your thigh muscle: alternate legs. Repeat 20 to 30 times for each leg.
-Bend forward slightly. Clasp your hands around your knee and hug it to your chest. Hold this stretch for 15 seconds. Keeping your hands around the knee, slowly let it down. Repeat 10 times, alternating legs.
Ankles
Lift your feet off the floor and draw a circle with the toes, simultaneously moving one foot clockwise and the other foot counter-clockwise. Reverse circles. Repeat for 15 seconds in each direction.
Feet
Start with both heels on the floor and point your feet upward as high as you can; put both your feet flat on the floor; lift your heels as high as possible keeping balls of feet on the floor. Repeat the stages in a continuous motion for about 30 seconds.