Doctors Do Not Recommend ‘Raw-Dogging’ Your Next Flight

Photo: Craig Hastings/Getty Images

For most people, long-haul flights are a wretched experience. You’re cramped in a small economy seat. The air feels disgusting. Airplane food can be quite questionable. Your best hope may be to pass the time by snacking, watching a movie, and eventually falling asleep. Unless you’re one of those men on the internet who, for some reason, have decided to make their experience even worse by “raw-dogging” their time in the air: no in-flight entertainment, no meals, no water, no trips to the bathroom. Just staring at the flight map for hours on end.

Why would anyone put themselves through that while already being stuck on a metal tube hurtling through the sky? Well, apparently, these men — of course most people posting about raw-dogging flights are men — enjoy the challenge. Experts, on the other hand, think that if you’re the ultimate flight raw-dogger, you also may be a little bit of a tool.

“A digital detox might do you some good, but all the rest of it is against medical advice,” Dr. Gill Jenkins, a general practitioner, told BBC recently. “The whole thing about the risk of long-haul flying is that you’re at risk of dehydration. If you’re not moving, you’re at risk of deep vein thrombosis, which is compounded by dehydration. Not going to the toilet, that’s a bit stupid. If you need the loo, you need the loo.”

Nutritionist Toby King agrees that there are significant health risks. “Keeping hydrated can help your skin and mucous membrane cells to keep bacteria from entering your body and [making] you more susceptible to infection, especially when you are surrounded by hundreds of others in a confined area,” he told travel site Inspire Ambitions, adding, “Getting sick at the beginning of your holiday isn’t a great way to start it.”

Who’d have thought that not moving or nurturing your body for multiple hours while 30,000 feet up in the air would be bad for you? Maybe next time you have a long-haul flight, you can stick with staring at the map, but make sure to get up to walk every two hours. It won’t be the end of the world!