Air travel and your health

by Peter Lavelle

Longer flights, bigger aircraft and fewer stopovers increase the health risks of long-haul flights, say US researchers.

Given that almost two billion people travel aboard commercial airlines every year it's amazing more people don't get sick on planes. In fact, air travel on per kilometre basis is the safest way to travel.

Being cramped in a seat for up to 20 hours, 10,000 metres in the air, probably wasn't what evolution had in mind for the human body.

But being airborne for hours at a time can be a physical challenge for some people and it's likely to become more of an issue in the future. That's because our population is ageing and many of these people have chronic…