Mixing your long plane ride with alcohol could be a dangerous cocktail for your heart, new research out Monday suggests. The small trial found that healthy volunteers experienced a greater drop in their blood oxygen level and corresponding rise in heart rate after drinking alcohol while sleeping in high-altitude conditions than they did without having a drink. The mix could be much more risky to people already vulnerable to cardiovascular problems or the elderly, the study authors say.
It’s already known that long-haul flights (usually any flight longer than six hours) can take a minor toll on the body. The high-altitude environment exposes us to lower atmospheric pressure, which can then reduce the level of oxygen saturation in our blood, especially when we’re . To compensate for this loss, the heart has to work harder, leading to an increased heart rate.
The research was led by scientists at the German Aerospace Center’s Institute of Aerospace Medicine. They knew of showing that drinking alcohol before bed can also decrease blood oxygen saturation and increase heart rate while sleeping. So they wanted to know if a combination of alcohol and long-haul flying would make the problem even worse.
The team recruited healthy volunteers between the ages 18 to 40 for their experiment. Half were asked to sleep under normal atmospheric conditions (sea level) and half slept in an altitude chamber that could mimic the conditions of a plane’s cabin pressure at cruising altitude (.
