He alcohol consumption during a flight, in combination with cabin pressure, could pose a risk to the heart health of sleeping passengers, especially on long journeys, in addition to affecting the quality of sleep, a laboratory study suggests.
The research published by Thorax, from the group British Medical Journaland carried out by German researchers, indicates that this combination reduces oxygen in the blood and increases heart rate, even in young and healthy people.
The greater the alcohol consumption, the greater these effects may be, especially among older passengers and those with preexisting conditions, the researchers said.
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The study was carried out in a laboratory, in an altitude chamber, which resembles the environment in the pressurized cabin of an airplane, and in a sleep laboratory.
A simulated environment “differs significantly from a normal trip, where expectations and conditions vary”according to the researcher Stephen Ortizfrom the University of the Americas (Ecuador), who did not participate in the test, cited by Science Media Center, a scientific resource platform for journalists.
For the study, two groups between 18 and 40 years old were formed. Half were assigned to a sleep lab under normal ambient atmospheric pressure (sea level) conditions and the other to an altitude chamber that mimicked cabin pressure at cruising altitude (2,438 meters above sea level).
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Twelve people in each group slept for 4 hours without drinking alcohol and the same number after drinking for one night, followed by two nights of recovery and another night in which the process was reversed.
Participants drank an amount of pure vodka equivalent to two cans of beer or two glasses of wine in vodka. Sleep cycle, saturation, and heart rate were monitored continuously for four hours.
The final analysis included results from 23 people in the sleep lab and 17 in the altitude chamber.
Combining alcohol and cabin pressure simulation caused a drop in blood oxygen saturation to an average of just over 85% (for most people the normal level is 95% higher) and a compensatory increase in heart rate to an average of almost 88 beats per minute during sleep.
For those who slept in an altitude chamber but without drinking alcohol, the average saturation was 88% and just under 73 heartbeats. Those who remained in the sleep laboratory recorded 95% saturation and a little less than 64 heart rate among those who had not drank alcohol.
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As for sleep, the deepest type was reduced to 46.5 minutes under the combined exposure of alcohol and simulated cabin pressure. In it laboratory of sleep, that phase lasted 84 minutes for those who had drunk and 67.5 minutes for those who had not.
The researchers acknowledge the small sample size of their study and that the participants were young and healthy, so they do not reflect the general population. Furthermore, the dream became supine, a position that is not possible for those traveling in economy class.
In any case, they considered that, “Taken together, these results indicate that, even in young, healthy individuals, the combination of alcohol intake with hypobaric sleeping places a considerable burden on the cardiac system and could lead to an exacerbation of symptoms in patients with heart disease or lungs”.
In his comment of studyOrtiz pointed out that the alcohol was consumed as a shot, the intake of which can be more abrupt than a glass of wine or a beer throughout a flight, generally longer, in addition, he excluded the factor of diet, which can considerably influence the the results.
EFE
