This may be why frequent business travelers die early: A new study indicates that drinking alcohol while you’re flying maybe bad for your health, even if you’re not the one flying the plane, according to NBC News. If you enjoy a $9 bottle of vodka, say, before nodding off on a long flight, you could be jeopardizing your health.
Drinking then sleeping in low air pressure, turns out, can be fatal. The study shows subjects’ heart rates increased by 15% and blood oxygen levels dropped as low as 85%–remember from The Pandemic: Blood oxygen saturation levels below 95% are dangerous.
Although the study group was small–just 24 individuals–the phenomenon happened with subjects of various backgrounds, from healthy young people to older unfit passengers. Airline cabins are typically pressurized to 6,000 to 8,000 feet of altitude.