Drinking alcohol on airplanes is bad for your body

Question

Author Tom Hawking claims in his article "Drinking alcohol on airplanes is bad for your body" that there are negative effects to drinking the complimentary alcohol while on an airplane because of the plane's hypobaric conditions. He uses a study conducted by a group of researchers at the German Aerospace Center's Institute of Aerospace Medicine which came to the conclusion that although hypobaric conditions of a plane cabin while you're asleep can already be harmful, drinking the airline-provided alcohol can impact it far more greatly. Given the fact this article was written and published recently and that the sources used are reliable, I'd say that the facts stated within are true. The study stated within the article includes several percentages that make sense with the claim being made. What makes this article iffy is the fact that it's a generally a wide known fact that alcohol is already not good for your body. The study used for this article focused more on the impact it has on one's REM cycle and sleep structure rather than just the negative effects drinking alcohol can have on an individual when in an aircraft. It basically says that its already bad to be in an aircraft, but alcohol can make it worse, which is technically true. I did an internet search on impacts of drinking alcohol at high altitudes and found similar statements made to the one in the article. For example, on www.health.com, author Kristen Fischer states the fact that if you drink on an airplane, your blood oxygen levels may drop, and your heart rate may increase which could lead to health conditions (https://www.health.com/drinking-alcohol-on-planes-health-effects-8660627). All in all, though the claim made by Hawking is technically correct being as though there are many sources backing it up, the title is click baity and doesn't particularly go along with what it says in the sources they used to back up their claim. 

Answer 1

In an article by Time magazine, there is more evidence that supports your claim that drinking alcohol on airplanes is bad for your health. However, this only may be true if you fall asleep after drinking an alcoholic beverage in a low pressure environment. The article states that combining alcohol and low pressure results in decreased oxygen levels and increased heart rates. The article then describes a study in which groups of people were spilt up: one group sleeping sleeping with sea-level pressure, and the other group sleeping in a chamber with air pressure similar to that on a plane, both after consuming alcohol. The study found, "The participants who drank alcohol before sleeping in the altitude chamber had their blood oxygen saturation decrease to 85%, on average, the study found. Their heart rates increased to an average of about 88 beats per minute, likely to compensate for the lower oxygen levels." So, while your claim is true, the main focus of the article I read was about the danger of combining alcohol with sleep while you are in a low pressure environment. 

Link to the article: https://time.com/6985273/alcohol-planes-health-heart-study/

Answer 2

Although the headline “Drinking alcohol on airplanes is bad for your body” is not false, the word “bad” is broad and can be misleading/shocking, and “body” should be changed to “sleep”. Aside from the commonly known negative effects of alcohol and cabin pressure/altitude on the human body, drinking on a plane is more risky than unhealthy as per initial assumptions associated with those words. The cited study from BMJ Journals (https://thorax.bmj.com/content/79/10/970) embedded in the Popular Science article we're investigating (Drinking alcohol on airplanes is bad for your body | Popular Science) is entirely credible (as well as the author Tom Hawking), but the title isn’t necessarily applicable to everyone who flies, as most people don’t have a heart condition and aren't permanently affected by a bad nap. The study was conducted around the sleep quality, oxygen saturation, and heart rate of those who slept horizontally for four hours after drinking an equivalent amount of liquor that is served on a long-haul flight. The average, non-first-class flier sleeps sitting up so there may be discrepancy there, but the article accurately rephrases the factual study. The main risk with drinking then sleeping in hypobaric conditions is a dangerously low level of oxygen in the blood, AKA hypoxia. This condition causes headache, difficulty breathing, rapid heart rate and bluish skin. This state can be potentially life threatening, which is what I believe the article’s exaggerated title was trying to reference. 

The Popsci article also highlights shorter REM and N3 duration, which, yes, is “bad” for your sleep, but if you are a healthy individual who didn’t necessarily need solid sleep on the plane, getting a drink from that rolling cart isn’t damaging to your body. However, other news sources also emphasize the danger/potential risks and ask the public to reconsider indulging in an alcoholic beverage before and during flights. A Time article cites an NBC News report where, “Dr. Eva-Maria Elmenhorst, one of the study’s authors and deputy of the department of sleep and human factors research at the Institute of Aerospace Medicine at the German Aerospace Center…[said] ‘Please don’t drink alcohol while being on an airplane.’” (Drinking On Planes Could Be Bad For You, New Study Finds | TIME) A lack of oxygen to the heart and brain can cause long term injury or coma. The Cleveland Clinic states that cerebral hypoxia causes death of brain cells, stating that, “Brain damage begins within four minutes of not having enough oxygen. The longer your brain lacks oxygen, the more likely you’ll have brain damage.”(Cerebral Hypoxia: What It Is, Causes, Symptoms & Treatment) This is an extreme case scenario but it is worth considering for those who already have blood flow irregularities. This author Tom Hawking didn’t have reason to lie besides a scare-tactic draw for engagement within the title, so the information is to help the general public, not benefit him personally. Overall, pressurized cabins at high altitudes already cause strain on our bodies and sleeping on a flight lowers blood oxygen levels, but intoxication can bring those levels down to a lower concentration which causes the potential of hypoxia and reduces sleep quality. The information within the article is sound, but I would replace the title with “Drinking Alcohol During/Before Airplane Flight Causes Poor Sleep and has Potential Risks of Hypoxia”.