Riding a plane isn’t always fun or comfortable for everyone. There may be instances that you feel tired or perhaps drained even when you sat through an hour long flight and slept through the entirety of it. Then you notice how some other people come out refreshed or even energetic when you yourself feel sore and tired. It’s a fact that sitting in one position isn’t always the best idea even when you’re not in an airplane.
When on a long road trip, you too would get the feeling of having the need to stop for a moment, get out of the car and stretch for a while – this makes long road trips not as tedious plane rides where you’re constantly in air the whole time. So the question is – how does one exactly “stretch” and feel rejuvenated while in a plane? All that in this article.
Pre Flight
Before your trip, anything you do contributes largely towards how you’ll feel during the duration of the flight. If you decided to eat a heavy meal beforehand, you would expect to feel uncomfortable and may even have the urge to use the lavatory from time to time. So its best to eat light and avoid drinking any diuretics – these promote the urge to urinate frequently (this may include drinks such as coffee, tea or even sodas).
You may also want to consider wearing comfortable clothes and not wearing anything that might make you feel uncomfortable after a period of time – after all, if it’s a long flight you might as well get comfy. Also get a good amount of rest as its not always guaranteed you get to sleep peacefully when flights have the chance to experience turbulence and such.
During Flight
During long flights, the best way to feel comfortable is to not sit in an awkward position that would lead to you feeling sore after a while. Avoid putting your legs or feet in a position that would make them cramp up – instead, make sure you’re not straining any part of your body and if possible, make us of a neck pillow to make sleeping more comfortable. Sore feet may actually be a cause of wearing tight footwear so remember the tip of wearing comfortable clothing as we mentioned in the Pre flight section.
Exercises to stretch your muscles
Stretching on a plane isn’t exactly as easy as stretching when you want to when you’re on a road trip. The space is smaller and you wouldn’t want to stretch while attracting the attention of other passengers.
Luckily, there are plenty of small exercises you can do on your seat while on your flight. Start small and with your finger tips, do a simple crack with each of your fingers and do a “close – open” with all of them as if you’re making a fist. Rotate your hands clockwise and counter clockwise, forward and back.
Now to stretch the elbows, all you need to is curl them up and let your hands reach your shoulders, then stretch your arms as far as you can in front of you. For your neck and head, you can stretch by looking to the left, right, upwards and downwards then rotating your head clockwise and counter clockwise – all these can be done in intervals of 8 seconds each before you move on to the next exercise.
For stretching your legs, you can take the luxury of walking down the aisle when the turbulence isn’t that strong and when its safe to do so.
You can also try cracking your back by twisting (but do not force your back to crack as it can lead to damage if you try to). You can also stretch your feet during this time but you can do as well while on your seat by also rotating your foot clockwise and counterclockwise.
Plane flights can vary from being quick flights to flights that are hours long. Stretching your muscles isn’t only a good way to feel better during a flight but also a way to feel refreshed afterwards. Remember these few things and you’ll feel much better and relaxed on your next flight.
