Why are long haul trips like airplane rides and bus rides so exhausting, even though all we do is sit?
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Airline captain responding to duty !
First of all :
– sitting non stop is more tiring than one might think: the body position is constrained, in fact it’s pretty bad to sit all the time for a variety of reasons
– your body is full of sense inputs: it is moving all the time, your brain needs to make sense out of your body position from what you see outside. Some get seasick if trying to read for this reason.
– the NOISE. Noise is underestimated as a major source of fatigue. If you are a frequent commuter, treat yourself with a good noise cancellation closed headphone. Cant go wrong with the Bose one, but I hear there are good ones now that might do the trick (note: I don’t consider the bose as good sounding HP but as good noise cancelling ones. A scientific explain action of why it is so tiring is most of the absent sound is low frequency which is also high energy. You literally loose hearing by being prolonged long times to such ambient sounds.
Now specifics of airplane rides since it is my domain:
– in the cabin, you climb to an altitude or 8000/8500 feet in older planes, 6000/6500 if you are lucky and ride a new one like the B787 or A350. We just cannot maintains a pressure of sea level in the cabin because the differential will be too hard on the structure. That means you climb halfway up a descent mountains, say high enough to go skiing in winter. You’re starting to get out of the denser part of the atmosphere, that’s where professional in biking or running and overall endurance sports go train to produce more blood cells related to oxygen. Sounds like nothing, but you will feel more tired just from spending time with lower O2.
– air is very dry, close to 0 on older planes, a bit better on newer planes. That also tires you as you are pretty much a pure water based entity: you need to drink 500ml Avery other hour or so or you will be be dehydrated
– sound again, planes have a constant low frequency rumbling from the engine vibration through the frame. A good headset is very efficient in this ambience, again newer planes are less noisy than older ones
– a final consideration: by climbing in pressure your inner body and internal organs expand. When you do cycles of ups and down, you have no conscience of it but all your internal organs inflate and deflate. This produces a strain on your body that adapts to it constantly.
– probable tiredness from the ride to the airport, checkin environment, TSA, queueing etc which are honestly the worst part of travelling by air. It’s actually recognized as stressful and you will notice duty free and shops will not be placed before stressful areas of an airport but rather close to gates where passengers relax, or after landing when at the worst they just want to leave. Oh, and stress is tiring, your brain does use a lot of energy.
– maybe also your simple jet lag or early or late time of departure disrupted your sleep schedule and I’m sure I don’t need go explain why this is tiring
All this adds up go the experience being more tiring that you’d imagine, and for the crew doing that so that full time, you have to add up the responsibilities and the work hours in the environment, repeated duties per day in short haul (up to 6 flights a day is not impossible for mid liner aircraft crew like the B737, more on propeller aircraft which are even noisier and move more, sometimes with no pressurisation). For these raison air crew, and train crew have more days off per work week cycle than regular jobs or they wouldn’t be able to recover in time. When my dad went with me on a regular 2:45+2:45 day, he told me he was tired although he is a sportsman. I regularly do 4:20+4:20, repeatedly like 4 or 5 times in a week of work. This adds up and being in charge of the plane makes it worse, this is also why the job is usually top 3 / top 4 of the most stressful ones. Constant battle with fatigue is one of the elements why
Hope it helps !
Welp, maybe this helps y’all feel a little better.
I flew on big cargo planes in the military(not pilot). We had nice bunk beds, a stove, and most of the time plenty of room to move about. After takeoff my body is trained to immediately pass the fuck out. The nice humming of jet engines is an instant sleep sound.
However, on commercial planes I don’t have my bunk beds or stove so I am never comfy enough to fall asleep. I get the fun uncomfortableness of a plane ride + every fiber in my body screaming SLEEP while simultaneously not being able to sleep.
I hate flying now.
Let’s picture yourself watching your favorite show on TV. You’re sitting down on a comfy sofa and you’re free to do whatever you want. You can’t get tired, right?
Now imagine your house is being remodeled. There are people moving around, running in front of the TV, drilling and hammering stuff. Plus, some of them (people you don’t know) decide to take a break and watch TV with you. Suddenly, you feel squeezed on your seat, with unknown people around you, strange smells, noise all around and you’re worried someone could break your TV and you might never see the ending of your show. You can’t move your legs too much, you can’t breath in properly, it’s noisy, you can’t fart and there’s this feeling of danger, which makes you feel uneasy.
Most of the top comments seem to miss the main answer:
Vibration and jostling for busses and cars, air pressure and some vibration for planes.
You’ll notice this on land if you go from an old or poorly designed car to one with a more comfortable ride. In the air, if you ride on Boeings Dreamliner, which uses better understanding of jet lag and fatigue to be less exhausting, you’ll see it there.
There are other factors, mentioned by others, such as noise, changing sights, unchanging positions, and more. But jostling and air pressure are the biggest.
micro vibrations that you don’t even realize your body is working to compensate for
added stress you aren’t used to
lower air pressure means less oxygen in your blood (flying)
Airplane cabins are very very dry, with typically 4-7% humidity. Even mild dehydration can cause fatigue and lethargy. New composite material airplanes like the 787 have higher humidity in the cabin, around 15%, and you feel much better afterwards.
Pilot here. Moisture and quiet are your friends. Neither are plentiful in planes where the air is dry and the noise is constant. We use noise cancelling headsets and they make a huge difference. Investing in something like the Bose QC35 for consumers can be very smart. Also, drink a bunch of water before you get on the plane, and then drink more throughout the flight. And whatever you do, try to avoid alcohol. It dries you out.
EDIT: Pro tip: bring an empty water bottle with you through security and then fill it up from a water fountain near the gate.
I’ve always slept through long haul trips and arrived at my destination rested and ready to go.
You learn how to adapt when riding Greyhound coast-to-coast.
One explanation that I read is that on the busplane your body is exposed to constant vibrations.
Our brain sense them and try to compensate by moving muscles back-and-forth.
This lead to massive strain on muscles over whole body, you kinda do 10+h workout on a planebus and this make you exhausted.
Side note, my former company used to have us do driving training every month on the computer. We’ve watched so many videos that make the point of driving is work and physically/mentally exhausting. We have to follow all rules of the company even when driving company vehicle to and from work (I brought company vehicle home with me). So with that all being said, why don’t you pay us for drive time to and from the jobsite? You’re expecting me to follow your rules while even you say that it is “work”. They would also have us work a 12 hour shift then drive over an hour home. Your own driver training says that’s not ok. If you expect me to work 12 hours then my drive time should be part of that shift.
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