Ever wondered if that airport drink is helping or hurting your sleep? Here’s the sober truth: alcohol may relax you in the air, but it’s a jet lag nightmare for your brain. At NoLo Life, we help you land clear-headed and grounded with alcohol-free solutions.

If you’re a business person who frequently travels internationally for business, we need to talk about jet lag and alcohol.

Firstly, Alcohol and jet lag has an effect on your cognitive function similar to being drunk. If you want clarity of thought when you travel, adding alcohol to the mix makes you “double drunk”. If your company is paying for you to travel internationally, they definitely want you to perform at your best, so being “double drunk” won’t work.

Then there’s the serious matter of deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Sitting still for too long on a plane is likely to cause DVT, so drinking too much and passing out on the plane makes you a candidate. Also, binge drinking has been linked to blood clotting, which again makes a DVT more likely if you drink heavily when you fly.

For many travellers, the normal rules of living seem to go out the window when they arrive at the airport! Seeing all those planes on the tarmac, people rationalise “it’s after 5 pm somewhere!” and head straight to the bar, no matter what time of day. I’ve seen stalls set up for wine tastings at 7 am (who is tasting wine at that hour of the morning?), and people who would normally never drink in the morning are suddenly in the airport bar slamming down margaritas at 10 am.

There’s also the association of alcohol and travel in business culture. Doing a lot of international travel is stressful on the body and mind, and business travellers often use alcohol as a stress release. Frequent flyers often feel entitled to a scotch at the airport lounge – with all these frequent flyer points, they’ve earned it! For many, a bottomless glass is a perk of frequent business travel.

On long distance flights the cabin crew offer almost bottomless drinks unless someone is obviously drunk or rowdy, because most people fall asleep after a few drinks, making their jobs easier.

Flying and drinking seem to go hand-in-hand for many travellers. Let’s separate them! Here are my top 5 tips for navigating international travel while minimising alcohol intake.

1. Use juices, tea or coffee as a reward

As soon as I’ve cleared security, I treat myself to a freshly-made juice. Most airports have juice bars that they make in front of you, with a choice of orange, apple, pineapple, watermelon or carrot. My personal favourite juice is carrot and celery, and in the winter months I add a bit of ginger. It rehydrates me, which is something scotch will never do. Find a juice that you like and treat yourself, your body will thank you! Alternatively, find yourself a herbal tea to rehydrate, or a normal tea or coffee, which won’t rehydrate you to the same extent, but certainly be very pleasant waiting for your flight.

2. Avoid airport bars

Most airport bars are noisy, soulless places with a TV blaring in the corner with some random sports match you’re probably not interested in. Instead, find a nice quiet café, restaurant or bookstore to pass your time more constructively. I like to look at the luggage stores and sometimes clothing, but most places are nicer than airport bars.

2. Opt for non-alcoholic drinks in the lounge

Having airport lounge access doesn’t mean you need to drink the bar dry! Just because you can drink free drinks doesn’t mean you have to drink them or even should drink them. Instead, have some non-alcoholic alternatives such as fruit juice, sodas or the Australian classic: lemon, lime and bitters. 

3. Meditation and mindfulness

Yes, you can meditate, even at 30,000 feet! You don’t need a yoga mat, incense and Tibetan singing bowls to practice meditation. One simple technique involves focusing on your breath, and that’s something you’ll hopefully always have handy! For some people the view out the window at high altitude, even when there are clouds or ocean, is mesmerising. I vividly remember watching the crescent moon set out over the far southern reaches of the Southern Ocean, just a short distance from the coast of Antarctica. There was nothing there but ocean (and maybe a few icebergs!), but I say from experience that you can absolutely practice mindfulness on a long haul flight.

4. The power of No

Yes, your work colleagues may well decide to drink themselves stupid. And yes, your fellow travellers might be thinking of you as a bit of a party pooper for not joining in the “fun”. But ask yourself: will they be nursing my hangover?

Give yourself the gift of choice: if you want to drink, fine. But if you don’t want to drink, or you want to drink less, that’s also fine. There’s no sense in drinking to make other people happy. Sometimes a simple “no, thanks” is all that’s required.

Flying and drinking have become so intertwined, it’s a great idea to separate them and  rethink your alcohol consumption when you travel. It makes a lot of sense to either say “no” or to go “low” when you fly.

Explore AF alternatives for travel from mocktail recipes to healthy routines. Join the NoLo Life community for refreshingly conscious journeys.