On modern passenger aircraft, you can fly at any age. You should only take into account some circumstances that can darken the trip: emotional stress, unexpected illness or poor health, changes in atmospheric pressure, daily rhythm and climate. Strong emotional stress before the trip is quite understandable and usually covers those who rarely or for the first time fly an airplane. Going on a car trip, they don’t even think about the risk associated with it, although it is car crashes that claim the greatest number of human lives. Almost air travel is safe, fast and comfortable.
Airtight cabins are equipped with artificial climate systems that allow you to control temperature, humidity and air movement. However, when taking off, the pressure drops, and when landing it rises. Even such a short-term change in pressure immediately makes itself felt: the passenger feels a noise, can lay his ears, sometimes even for 1-2 days. This is explained by the difference in air pressure in the middle ear and the cabin. These discomforts can be prevented by yawning or swallowing, so drinks are offered before starting and landing.
There is enough oxygen in the hermetically sealed cabin of the aircraft. A healthy person can safely fly at an altitude of up to 3000 m, compensating for the lack of oxygen by more frequent and deep breathing. And only at an altitude of more than 3,000 m can a mountain sickness appear: palpitations, shortness of breath, pallor, sweating. In a modern airplane with a hermetic cabin, such a disease can only occur in an emergency.
If health is not everything is in order, then you should consider the features of air travel.
For inflammation of the upper respiratory tract (runny nose, catarrh of the upper respiratory tract), you should not use an airplane. If you still need to fly, then you should stock up with medicines (sanorin, naphthyzine, etc.). However, in this case too, the trip is fraught with troubles: the air flow coming in when the pressure changes from the nasopharynx to the middle ear can take microbes with it and cause inflammation of the middle ear.
Not recommended air travel if a hernia, exacerbation of peptic ulcer and gastritis , as well as immediately after surgery in the abdominal cavity (e.g., appendectomy), since gases at low pressure in the intestine and increases in volume produce different ailments. To reduce these disorders, you can wear a bandage, eat foods that do not cause bloating, and take activated charcoal (carbene), which adsorbs intestinal gases.
Cardiovascular diseases in most cases are not contraindicated, with the exception of the state of decompensation of cardiovascular activity. Mild disorders are not an obstacle to traveling by plane. With coronary heart disease, as well as after a heart attack, you should definitely consult a doctor.
There are certain restrictions on flights with hypertension, renal failure , anemia, etc. In diseases of the respiratory system (chronic bronchitis and chronic pneumonia, tuberculosis), you can fly, except in severe cases.
Patients with diabetes are allowed air travel, but first of all it is necessary to administer insulin, take medicine and follow a diet. When traveling long distances from west to east or from east to west, you should also take into account changes in the circadian rhythm and make sure that they do not lead to a violation of the diet and treatment.
And what about during pregnancy?
Opinions are different. Some say that you can fly at any stage of pregnancy, while others say that all this is not so simple. Healthy and balanced women tolerate flight well, while asthenic women are more difficult to adapt to flight conditions. Therefore, sensitive women intensively responding to external stimuli are not recommended travel, especially in the first months of pregnancy. However, the speed and comfort of air travel creates less physical stress than a long trip in a train, car or bus. When choosing a vehicle, you must carefully weigh the pros and cons.
In the last month of pregnancy, air travel must be abandoned due to cardiovascular system disorders and oxygen deficiency that occur during the flight. Some foreign airlines, for example, require a medical certificate of permission to fly if 4 weeks are left before delivery.
Infants and preschool children can be taken with them on the plane, as they quickly adapt to the flight conditions. During takeoff and landing, they are given a pacifier, and those who are older – candy or drink. If the child has a runny nose, it is not recommended to take it on a flight. When flying, say, in the subtropics, acclimatization affects everyone, especially the elderly and children. They adapt to an unusual climate slowly, hard, and in general a fascinating flight can be very tiring for them.
Well, in general, air travel requires caution only in exceptional cases.
REST ON WATER. SEASICKNESS.
Balneologists say that staying on the shore of a reservoir, especially the sea, always has a beneficial effect on a person. The picturesque landscape, sparkling water in the sun, the sound of waves, the smell of water create a calm and joyful mood for most. However, traveling by water can obscure seasickness.
What is motion sickness, or kinetosis? Kinetosis usually occurs from pitching and uneven speed on a ship, in an airplane, car or train. The disease is mainly associated with irritation with rectilinear accelerations of the so-called otolith apparatus located in the inner ear.
Not everyone reacts equally to this irritation; Excitable people suffering from neurasthenia are more likely to get sick than people with a balanced nervous system. More often susceptible to seasickness women. Symptoms of motion sickness can intensify under the influence of various irritants. Exacerbating factors can be poor physical or mental condition, menstruation, pregnancy (in the first months), recent concussion or concussion, poor lighting, and unpleasant odors. Sometimes kinetosis is caused by fear of seasickness.
About 6-8% of people do not suffer from kinetosis. Of those who are first at sea while pitching, 90% still get sick. Among those who swim constantly, this percentage is 2 times less.
Motion sickness is manifested by blanching of the skin, sweating, changes in breathing, pulse, the appearance of nausea, vomiting, fainting, depression (depressed state), etc. In addition, it can be caused by a feeling of “movement of the insides.” Therefore, closing the eyes, eliminating bright light or smelling substances can significantly alleviate the state of motion sickness.
Many people know sea sickness . It is claimed that the person suffering from this disease initially experiences mortal fear, and then fear that death has forgotten about him. After entering solid ground for some time it may seem that it is swinging underfoot, however, in a healthy person, kinetosis passes quickly and without consequences. It poses a danger to patients, since with a hernia it can cause its infringement, with diabetes it can worsen the course of the disease, with tumors it can cause bleeding, and during pregnancy (especially in the first months) it can cause an abortion.
However, this can be prevented by certain preventive measures. Before the trip you need to relax and eat in moderation. Spicy dishes are recommended that promote the secretion of gastric juice, the rapid digestion and absorption of food, pieces of ice or ice cream inhibit nausea and vomiting, which leads to dehydration and thereby aggravates the course of kinetosis. Experience has shown that acidic foods and juices are beneficial. Close clothing is undesirable.
Those who are prone to seasickness, it is advisable to be in the middle (at this point the pitching is less pronounced) of the ship or plane, in the bus – closer to the driver and lie on his back with his head thrown back . Of great importance are clean air and moderate temperature. Do not look at swaying vehicles and objects or waves flickering in the vicinity. During pitching is not worth reading.
Unpleasant sensations from pitching are weakened in a prone position. An effective prophylactic is sleep. In no case do not wake the sleeping, who felt bad before. Do not offer him either food or drink. And, of course, no tobacco or alcohol. By the way, intoxication and smoking do not protect against motion sickness, but rather worsen its course.
Medication can be relieved by drugs that lower the excitability of the central nervous system, such as aeron. It is taken on the advice of a doctor with a preventative purpose at the first sign of poor health.
You can’t tell yourself that on a ship or in an airplane you’ll feel bad while rolling. It is more correct to convince yourself of the opposite. And a little nausea can be overcome! Most sailors suffer from seasickness, some in mild, some in more severe form, but they do not allow themselves to relax and continue to work.
NEGATIVE EMOTIONS AND THEIR OVERCOMING .
A person manifests his attitude to the surrounding reality in feelings, feelings or emotions. Emotions have a very big impact on all types of human activities. An emotionally positive attitude of a person to activity excites, as a rule, his energy, activity, and creative possibilities. And, on the contrary, the absence of a positive attitude to work, to activity inevitably leads to a decline in energy, to a pattern in work, and a decrease in its effectiveness. In this regard, the issue of developing positive and overcoming negative emotions is of great practical importance.
Negatively colored emotions (depressed state, fear, disappointment, anxious anxiety, etc.) arise in connection with various adverse circumstances. The severity and duration of such negative emotions are different for different people. Usually in a person with a strong nervous system, negative emotions are not very long and do not lead to painful disorders. A healthy person eliminates an unfavorable situation, if possible; or adapts to the existing environment and does not allow the breakdown of the nervous system. When negative experiences are too severe or although relatively insignificant, they continue for a long time and occur in a person with a weakened nervous system, then they can cause the emergence of various painful conditions, including neurosis.
WHAT IS NEUROSIS?
Neurosis is a functional disorder of higher nervous activity, due to conflicting mental experiences. Unlike organic diseases of the nervous system (tumors, mechanical injuries, etc.), in which activity disorders are caused by damage to the tissue of the nervous system, in neurosis the anatomical integrity of neither the central nervous system nor internal organs is violated, but functional disorders occur, etc. e. disorders of the function of the central nervous system and the activity of one or another organ.
So, for example, heart pain or headaches may depend on circulatory failure, but in some cases this is due to functional narrowing of blood vessels caused by excitement, in another – vasoconstriction is determined by atherosclerotic (anatomical) changes in their walls. The reasons for this are different and the nature of the disorders is also uneven, although the manifestations of these disorders may be similar.
Imagine how figuratively the Leningrad psychotherapist L. G. Pervov in one of his works figuratively notes, an uncertainly moving car, winding along the road. In one case, it depends on the inept driver in the absence of any defects in the car itself, in the other case, the driver is experienced, but the car has serious problems. The nature of the malfunction and the “repair” in these cases will be different. Of course, in the body there may be a combination of functional and organic disorders, which is quite common. It should also be borne in mind that functional disorders can also be of a different nature. In case of neurosis, they are caused by the influence of experiences – these are psychogenic – functional disorders, in other cases they are caused by other, non-psychogenic factors, for example, increased or insufficient exposure to certain hormones.
Medicine has every opportunity to correctly establish the nature of the disease and prescribe appropriate treatment, although neurotic disorders sometimes last for a long time (many months and even years) and are accompanied by painful experiences. They are not life-threatening diseases.
Neurosis and mental disorder are different diseases, their nature is not the same. With mental illness, patients lose a reasonable critical assessment of the environment and their condition; it is impossible to convince them of the falsity of their judgments and perceptions.
With neurosis, a person is well aware of the strangeness, even the absurdity of some of his thoughts, feelings, actions and is able to suppress antisocial motives in himself. Therefore, patients suffering from neurosis, in cases of offenses are considered responsible for their actions.
PECULIARITIES OF PERSONALITY AND NEUROSIS.
The source of overstrain and disruption of higher nervous activity, as already mentioned, are difficult life situations, mental influences of a negative nature.
The question arises: why do some people, experiencing painful hardships, major life failures remain practically healthy and only for a short time experience these or other ailments, for which they do not even go to the doctors, and others, it would seem, with minor troubles in their lives fall into a state of neurosis, sometimes requiring prolonged treatment. This happens because for a person it is important not only to overstrain the nervous system as such, but also what is connected in the consciousness of this person with a traumatic situation.
View of a burning building, as noted by prof. A. M. Svyadoshch, can cause a neurosis only if a person knows that something expensive and valuable for him perishes in the fire. A wife’s departure from her husband in one case can cause him severe mental trauma; in another person this event does not cause any negative emotions.
The emergence of neurosis contributes to a temporary weakening of the nervous system, associated with a previous infection, overwork, alcohol intoxication and other hazards. However, in the development of neurosis in a person, the type of his higher nervous activity, the properties of his character, the characteristics of the personality as a whole, and the attitude to the difficulties created are of decisive importance.
The type of nervous system depends both on hereditary qualities and on upbringing and living conditions. Experimental data show, for example, that training can significantly enhance the process of inhibition or irritation.
Education, conditions of personality formation are of great importance in creating the stability of the nervous system. It is known that features of a person’s character take shape in the first years of his life. Infancy and childhood are called the “golden period of mental hygiene.” The most important art – the art of relationships, the way to respond to difficulties, a person learns in the family and, above all, imitating the example of parents. From childhood, one should educate the child in the ability to manage his emotions.
Faced with various neuroses in adults, one has to make sure that in many cases the roots of their origin go back to childhood, their reasons are education errors. Excessive custody and neglect are unacceptable here. Pampering, praising, creating a family idol from a child contribute to the formation of a hysterical character. On the other hand, excessive demands, the suppression of initiatives contribute to the formation of disturbing-hypochondriac character. As a result of improper upbringing, personality traits are formed such as emotional instability, ease of judgment, excessive shyness, and shyness. These character traits make a person less resistant to all manifestations of the environment. All this leads to conflicts, and sometimes to the development of neurosis.
Improper emotional development in childhood does not necessarily weigh on a person all his life, especially if he himself recognizes his shortcomings and seeks to eliminate them, but it undoubtedly contributes to the emergence of neurotic disorders both in childhood and in the subsequent period.
Of course, the mental characteristics of the personality are also determined by hereditary factors, which largely determine the stability, the degree of susceptibility (suggestibility) of a person to educational influences. Apparently, the problem of raising the so-called difficult children lies in this inbornly conditioned insufficient ability to perceive the necessary skills. To achieve the goal, there is so far nothing other than a logical explanation, the suggestion to behave correctly, in accordance with the situation, observing the rules of public morality