Health Hazards of Sleeping and Drinking on Long-Haul Flights

During long-haul airline flights, often “red-eye” overnight flights, passengers sometimes use alcoholic drinks to help them fall asleep. Investigators from Germany conducted a study to identify the separate and combined effects of hypobaric cabin pressure and drinking alcohol on heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, and sleep quality. They asked 48 healthy young adults with normal body-mass index to sleep for at least 4 hours in a sleep laboratory or in a chamber capable of simulating hypobaric airplane cabin pressures.

Oxygen saturations at sea-level pressure were about 95% during sleep, with or without alcohol ingestion. However, at typical hypobaric cabin pressures, oxygen saturations were about 87% without alcohol and 85% after an alcohol…