If you are one of the lucky ones that find sleeping on a plane easy, or you load up on sleeping pills before a flight, getting some shut eye on a plane could actually be harmful to your health.
This claim comes from a study by Harvard University that found sleeping on a plane could be detrimental to your hearing.
Researchers found that if you are asleep during a flight and there is a sudden change in altitude, your body’s ability to equalise the pressure in your eardrum may be compromised and could cause permanent damage.
For most people when there is a sudden change of altitude, they feel like their ears are going to pop – which occurs when the pressure on the outside of the ears doesn’t match the pressure on the inside.
This often happens during the takeoff and landing parts of the flight.
Yawning or swallowing opens up the thin canal called the Eustachian tube which helps to equalise the pressure.
However, when you are sleeping you cannot control the natural reaction and the Eustachian tube can become blocked, resulting in ear barotrauma.
If the tube is blocked for a lengthy period of time (read: a long haul flight), it can develop into an infection and cause a fluid build up behind the eardrum resulting in hearing difficulties and pain.
In extreme cases, a deep fistula leak can also develop meaning blood leaks from your ears.
To avoid this, make sure you are awake during takeoff and landing.
Source: The Daily Star
