Is FF-ing affecting your health ?

[serfty]

Not these days. It feels like I do as much walking around in circles as I do walking forward....

No sure about circles, but I do recommend "Army Golf" ... you know: "Left, right, left, right, left ..."

 

[JohnK]

No sure about circles, but I do recommend "Army Golf" ... you know: "Left, right, left, right, left ..."

I thought you were a Catholic.... you know "a cross here, a cross there...."

 

[Mal]

There are a few health things that I think FF'ers need to be aware of. Some have been previously mentioned:

Flying:
1. Weight - Further discussed below in 2&3&4.
2. Over-Eating/poor eating. Airlines tend to feed you well when flying J or F. Even in Y, the food is often fatty and full of carbs. This helps pile on the weight.
3. Over-Drinking. Flying seems to be all about free drinks in J/F/lounges. Yeah people can resist alcohol, but a lot of people over indulge in lounges or onboard. Seems that Frequent Flying is also often about 'Frequent Drinking'.
4. Lack of exercise. Hard to exercise on a plane!
5. DVT and similar issues from non or limited movement during flight.

At destination:
1. Weight - Further discussed below in 2&3&4.
2. Over-Eating/poor eating. Too easy to either eat unhealthily due to lunches/dinners with clients/colleagues, or being too tired to order healthily when getting back to hotel, or unfamiliarity with local food and seeing Maccas as an acceptable option!
3. Over-Drinking. Again could be due to clients/colleagues, or just because of nothing else to do etc.
4. Lack of exercise. Too busy to use gym at hotel or go swimming etc. Don't know of local sports clubs or activities you would like. May not feel safe in general environment around hotel. Tend to catch cabs everywhere.
5. Depression/Loneliness/Stress - Could be related to the type of work you're doing and the timeframes you're under, could be to do with loneliness being away from home, or a perceived lack of things you think you could be doing.
6. TimeZones/lack of sleep - related to your body clock not adjusting quickly to your new time zone.
7. General health - eg vaccinations not up to date, poor choice of eating places could lead to different infections/sickness or disease.

Plenty of ways to get around these - it just takes time, motivation and a willingness to do something about it. For example, getting a studio/self contained apartment instead of a hotel and being able to cook your own meals rather than take-away, drinking in moderation, LowFat/LowCarb choices on planes and in restaurants, sleeping properly while away, allowing additional day to recover after arriving in a place, walking back to hotel from client's site, having alcohol free nights, or just going for a walk to see some of the sights.

 

[medhead]

It's nice to see that no one has raised the health effects of all the extra radiation exposure you get from flying. I hope this isn't due to ignorance of that exposure.

 

[tscharke]

...For example, getting a studio/self contained apartment instead of a hotel and being able to cook your own meals rather than take-away...

that would be the way to go if your company doesn't fully enforce their strict 'preferred hotel' & 'per diem' policy :evil: (oh bring back the days of the loose expense policy!!!)

or just going for a walk to see some of the sights.

totally agree - walking the streets for hours after work is not only a great walk to exercise the body but the best way to see what a city has to offer! along with meeting some pretty interesting characters!

It's nice to see that no one has raised the health effects of all the extra radiation exposure you get from flying. I hope this isn't due to ignorance of that exposure.

hmmm! i've wondered why my fingertips have started glowing!

 

[munitalP]

Maybe you hit the ball too straight?

I play military golf, left, right, left right....

BTW, if anyone wants a hit at Sanctuary Lakes in Melb, give me a call, I'm always looking for a Sunday partner...

Mr!

 

[openseat]

To stay on topic

Has anyone tried the Asian Vegetarian option on QF domestic or indeed any of the other options? What do you get at breakfast for this option?

For the umpteenth time I was offered spaghetti bolognese (as it is very loosely described!) flying BNE to MEL. I pass on it now and just buy (it was a weekend) a James Squire for the journey.

 

[NYCguy]

It's nice to see that no one has raised the health effects of all the extra radiation exposure you get from flying. I hope this isn't due to ignorance of that exposure.

I'm not ignorant of this issue, and it used to make me feel a little worried, but I felt better after I read some more about it. The internet has plenty of info. I used to smoke 25 a day, and the amount of damage I did to my body by doing that for 15 years makes the cosmic ray damage insignificant.

 

[medhead]

I used to smoke 25 a day, and the amount of damage I did to my body by doing that for 15 years makes the cosmic ray damage insignificant.

Yeah, exactly.

Although, I have heard of some research that suggests a low dose rate, extra exposure might be a good anti-cancer thing. So maybe the flying will compensate for the smoking

 

[thegurio]

Ill give you a run down of my week (keep in mind that i generally am away for 10 days a month, where i admit i generally drink more than i usually would but i do eat healthier as compensation?) but when i am home i work physically - im up and down ladders all week and do a fair amount of walking, i haven't yet put the pedometer on yet but as i got a new iphone i might use it to see if i can start using one. I do drink but not more than 4 days a week but when i do i generally have 3 or 4 beers or 2 beers and a couple of glasses of wine etc. I always play at least 9 holes of golf every week and like others have a "military" style (gunna have to use that one on Fri, the boys will love that!) and am generally outside a fair bit. But one thing i am suffering from is middle age spread, im not overweight jsut a bit pudgy so to speak with the usual beer gut and love handles. Im tryign to lose it but it seems that it took a long time be put on so i guess it will take a long time to come off!

Having said that however, i am trying to eat healthier but that gets harder when you are on the road all day and dont have a lot of time to wait for fresh food...

 

[Platy]

The only sure way I have found to avoid FF affecting my health is abstinence!

I mean abstinence from flying! I somehow managed to avoid all aircraft for about 6 months earlier this year and lost 12 kilos!!! This did involve reducing alcohol to once a week, 2x1 hour daily in the gym (4-5 times per week) plus walking the pooch an hour a day.

When travelling I now try to take early morning flights, which avoids the alcohol temptation and take my own yoghurt and oats. That means I can make it from BNE to CNS without the 6 mini pies, half a dozen cubes of cheese and crackers and an unspecified volley of crownies only to be washed down by yet more food and some red on the aircraft!

I try to walk as often and as far as possible - for example in Brisbane I will stay in West End and walk back and forth into the CBD, etc.

At home I try to get back into the gym/walk dog routine to offset the travel days!

On the SYD-HNL flight I was stuck in the middle row and got some aches and pains in legs and knees and thus worried about circulation.

My good friend in the UK got a bad case of DVT after a 5 hr flight from Corfu to London by sleeping in a rolled up position with legs scrunched up, but fortunately survived. I tend to get up and walk around every 1-2 hours on long flights and drink lots of fluids (with or without the grog).

Another friend suffered a mini heart attack at 36 yrs due to excessive stress and travel!

I am no longer disappointed if I don't make it into the hotel lounge (now access rules have changed for Hilton Honors Gold) only to be tempted by yet more needless calories. A brisk walk around town seems a better option to settle into a new environment!

My main concern in being Gold/Platinum/QC member is to help in the art of avoiding travel stress, thus avoid queues as far as possible, find a quiet spot in the lounge out of the madding crowds (not always possible!), choose a seat I feel very relaxed in, have a relaxing shower when connecting between flights...yeah, it's not just the alcohol, honest!

 

[JohnK]

BTW, if anyone wants a hit at Sanctuary Lakes in Melb, give me a call, I'm always looking for a Sunday partner...

Only if it is a sanctioned competition round so I can still get 0.1 back on my handicap.

I used to smoke 25 a day, and the amount of damage I did to my body by doing that for 15 years makes the cosmic ray damage insignificant.

I smoked for 25 years and the last few years was smoking 60-100 cigarettes a day before the heart attack. I am hoping the damage to my body is not that significant and only time will tell.

By the way it is exactly 5 years today since my life turned around....

 

[Platy]

By the way it is exactly 5 years today since my life turned around....

May I say congratulations, JohnK, on turning things around!

 

[Flashback]

May I say congratulations, JohnK, on turning things around!

And likewise from me. However :shock::shock::shock: at 60-100/day!

 

[JohnK]

Thanks.

And likewise from me. However :shock::shock::shock: at 60-100/day!

Can easily happen if you let cigarettes take control. The first thing I would do when I woke in the morning is have a cigarette in fact I used to smoke in my sleep and I am still amazed that I never set anything on fire. Work was always at least 25 cigarettes, golf was a cigarette every hole and if I started drinking it was one cigarette after another. Anyway those days are behind me and I hope I never have another cigarette....

 

[falconea]

Mr Falconea and I have been losing weight after his health scare earlier this year.

The basic rule to remember is calories in < calories out.

We just eat a little less, I've substituted fat free milk for full fat in cooking (but not for drinking!) and we've significantly cranked up our walking as well as taking up bell ringing. (2 hours of pulling a rope with somewhere between 150 kg to a ton of weight on the other end - pulling every 2 seconds? Great exercise!)

We've never been alcohol drinkers, and only rarely drink sugary drinks. We've now dropped them completely and stick to plain water or black unsweetened tea.

And we are now looking at every free food item and asking ourselves "do I really want to eat that?".

Mr Falconea is now 25 kg down (with assistance from being in hospital for a week with nothing but a saline drip) and I'm down 16 kg and still dropping (with hindrance from a foot injury).

On the DONE4 we will be eating more, but we'll also be walking all day long, except on days when we're flying. We will do every extra bit of exercise offered - climbing towers, walking steep hills etc. And we may end up drinking sugary drinks for safety in some parts of the world.

And an interesting observation we can offer: one big eating episode doesn't have a lasting effect on the weight. 2 days after OzFest (which involved a lot of food!) and a couple of days after the AFF Gather our weight was back to where it was before we started the events.

Audrey

 

[Evan]

Its difficult, the weight issue is the biggest for sure, sleep seems not so bad for me. I would however say its more the work than the travel that is the problem, i promised myself as i sign a new contract for next year i will be more healthy, Told my boss no more silly hours and that i am looking after myself better so he is prepared for it.
E

 

[Evan]

Thanks.


Can easily happen if you let cigarettes take control. The first thing I would do when I woke in the morning is have a cigarette in fact I used to smoke in my sleep and I am still amazed that I never set anything on fire. Work was always at least 25 cigarettes, golf was a cigarette every hole and if I started drinking it was one cigarette after another. Anyway those days are behind me and I hope I never have another cigarette....

Wow, good effort. I am sure you feel a heap better for it !
E

 

[sr81]

Wow, I must say that my efforts to keep fit pale in comparison to the rest of you here. I just try to only eat when hungry and ride my bike (20 km each way) to work. In a week I'll cover anywhere between 100km and 250km on the pushy.

When traveling I find the hours and greater stress help keep the chub off. I also only eat one main meal a day when in the USA. In UK and Europe I am too poor to eat anyway.

JohnK - top work. 60-100 is an amazing number and who cares about the health aspect, imagine the $$$$ savings! Seriously, well done.

 

[Flashback]

Its difficult, the weight issue is the biggest for sure, sleep seems not so bad for me. I would however say its more the work than the travel that is the problem, i promised myself as i sign a new contract for next year i will be more healthy, Told my boss no more silly hours and that i am looking after myself better so he is prepared for it.
E

And I'm sure you too, will feel better for that!