Chocks In Wine Out - is a de-stress vino bad for your health?

The chocks are in and the passengers off ..... a huge sigh of relief can be heard from the crew..WHAT A DAY!

Is this a normal job:

Calls from Crewing to change your flights

Delay after delay

Technical problems

Rowdy Passengers

Oh yes another call from Crewing "by the way you are starting 2 hours earlier tomorrow" ... Aaaargh!!

A pilot or cabin crew life is by no means a NORMAL job. 

The disruption that comes with the job is part of day to day life. Nonetheless It does not makes it easier. Personal and work related stress is something I feel Flight Crew handle very well and most pilots and cabin crew are very professional.

Time for a glass of wine I hear you say .... or is this bad for me?

Would you like some good news...read on

 

Harvard study finds that men and women who drink a small amount each day have a lower risk of heart failure than teetotallers

A small glass of wine a day could prevent heart failure, a new study suggests.

Middle-aged men who have up to seven drinks a week are 20 percent less likely to develop heart failure later in life compared to teetotallers, the Harvard research found.

The same drinking levels – equivalent to a small glass of wine or a half pint of beer a day - were also associated with a 16 per cent reduced risk in women.

Even those drinking two or three drinks a day had the same rate of heart failure as non-drinkers, according to the research published in the European Heart Journal online.

For the purposes of the study, one "drink" was defined as a beverage containing 14 g of alcohol, approximately equivalent to a small (125 ml) glass of wine, just over half a pint of beer.

What this study suggests for us flight crew is not to stress about enjoying a small glass of wine or beer!

My ideas for health, nutrition and exercise are that all of our actions have a good reason behind them, enabling us to reach ours short and long term goals.

If you are feeling stressed after a hard day in the skies or you just want to enjoy a glass of wine with your dinner then feel free....it won't kill you and in fact may even be good for your heart!

JUST DONT OVER DO IT

Unfortunately as human beings we have the ability to indulge and sometimes our subconscious mind is so overpowering we don't know when to stop. If you would like further advice on over consumption of alcohol you can visit www.drinkaware.co.uk.

My conclusion is that a small glass of wine is a healthy choice of drink to consume as part of a balanced flight crew lifestyle. Used to enhance the enjoyment of a meal, to de-stress or just for a nice social time you should not feel guilty for consuming a small glass of wine.

All wines and alcohol have different nutritional properties and that requires a blog post of its own. Don't miss this future post by joining my email list today.

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Cheers,

G

Flight Crew Health and Fitness - a healthy lifestyle?

Life above the clouds, is flight crew a healthy or unhealthy lifestyle that is the question?

Let's look at it this way......you are placed in a metal tube closing in on the speed of sound, with just enough room to swing your arms around. The crew food is filling the gash cart or otherwise your filling yourself with the gash crew food, either way these are choices we have to make everyday!

And I've not even started on the 5am report time yet.....anyone for coffee! Sugar and milk? Decisions, decisions and you are still half asleep.

I have worked in the airline industry for nearly a decade now and I am currently a Captain in the UK, flying Domestic and European routes whilst doing my fair share of night stops. With a 90 minute commute to work each way I spend a lot of time on my backside these days, with the addition of crew food this is not a healthy lifestyle by any stretch of the imagination.

HOWEVER....

Through personal experience, research and education (Loughborough University BSc Sports Science), I find myself feeling healthier than I was in my teens and twenties, where I was playing professional and semi-professional football, training up to 2 times a day 6 days a week! I have found ways to reduce illness and injury, feel more alert and awake, mainly through understanding food, nutrition and exercise.

Many health and fitness programmes do not fit the lifestyle of pilots or cabin crew, and the flight crew fitness plans out there are just aimed at fitness. My philosophies are based on health and wellness which will allow you to become "fit" in any form of fitness you choose. The basics are the same.

My idea behind the Flight Crew Health and Fitness blog is to provide you, the flight crew of our skies, the information to help you achieve your health and fitness goals. Whether it's losing a few pounds, training for a marathon, protecting your medical certificate and flying licence, or just making yourself feel better you'll find something here!

If you have any topics in particulars you would like the blog to cover please let me know in the comments below.

Take it easy,

Remember.... Rome was not built in a day

G