I get it. A long flight is exhausting as it is, and the thought of exercising on top of that sounds like too much.
But getting the blood flowing with some light exercises is the perfect antidote for the swollen feet and fatigue you feel after a long car ride or hours on a plane.
Some people even develop blood clots (called Deep Vein Thrombosis DVT) in their legs by sitting for too long. Often, it resolves with medications or on its own. But other times, it can dislodge and travel towards your heart which is dangerous.
Exercising your legs is helpful in avoiding DVTs.
Also, you might feel better after the flight and get rid of jet lag quicker if you stay active while on the plane.
In this article, we’ll share 14 exercises that you can easily do on a long flight. These exercises are low-key and unnoticeable, so you can rest easy knowing that your fellow passengers won’t stare at you.
But before we show those to you, let’s look at why your body needs exercise on long-haul flights and long car rides.
What Does a Long Flight Do to Your Body?
Sitting in one place for a long time can cause your muscles to tighten, your joints to stiffen and blood to pool in your legs.
Being on a plane also damages your skin because you’re in a confined space with the same recirculated air for hours! (Reference)
You might also experience a change in taste, fatigue, lethargy and sleepiness.
Ankle swelling (fancy term – gravitational edema) is a common thing that happens to most people during long-haul flights and long car rides, even if they’re otherwise healthy.
That’s because of two things – good old gravity and your veins in the legs have to work double-time to return the blood to the heart when your legs are just hanging and not moving.
When you move your leg muscles during walking, the movement helps your veins push the blood upwards. This muscle pump action is missing when you’re sitting which leads to your feet and ankles swelling up.
8 Simple In-Flight Exercises You Must Do
The main goal behind each exercise that we recommend is to get you to move. You can modify them according to the space you have.
To start, you should try to stand up every couple of hours and walk the aisle to stretch your legs. That’ll get your whole body moving and make you feel better.
Here are eight easy to follow exercises for the upper body and legs that you can do on long-haul flights.
You can do these while sitting in your seat. Repeat these every hour – or your feet will be too big to fit in your shoes.
Let’s get started.
1. Ankle Pumps
While sitting in your seat, lift your heel above the ground. Next, bring the heel down and lift your toes. Do that for 30 sections for each foot.
It’s a great exercise to create that ‘muscle pump’ action we talked about earlier. It’ll help the veins in your legs take the blood towards the heart.
2. Foot Circles
Lift your leg in the air just a few inches off the ground. Move your ankle in all directions. Imagine that you’re drawing a circle with your foot.
Keep doing that for 30 sections on each side.
This exercise also helps prevent your ankle from swelling up by helping push the blood upwards.
3. Knee to Chest With Overpressure
While sitting, bring your knee towards your chest as if you were hugging your knees. Then use your hands to bring the knee even closer.
That’ll help bring some movement to the knee and hip joints. It’ll also tackle the cramping of thigh muscles.
4. A Modified Figure of Four Stretch
While sitting, put one foot over the opposite knee. Then bring your upper body towards your knee.
You can use your hands to hold your knee and bring your body even further.
This exercise will help stretch your piriformis muscle. That’s a small muscle in your lower back and buttock which can cause discomfort when it’s tight.
It’ll also stretch your lower back and legs which will make you feel lighter.
5. Neck Stretches
Move your neck in all directions from left to right, front to back. Bend your neck towards one side so that your ear comes closer to your shoulder on the same side.
Use your hand to force the head downwards to apply a better stretch.
Similarly, rotate your neck to one side and bend it down to look at your thigh on the opposite side. Use your hand to pull your head further down for a better stretch.
This exercise works on the small muscle in the back of your neck, skull and upper back.
These muscles can get tense when you sit for too long, even more so if you’re bending your head to look at your phone.
6. Shoulder Circles
While sitting, move your shoulders in circles. That’ll stretch the muscles around the joint and in the upper back that can get stiff after prolonged sitting.
Read: Best exercises to bullet-proof your shoulders
7. Shoulder Stretch
Lock the fingers of both your hands. Then move your arms above your head such that your palms face the overhead lockers for carry-on luggage.
Actively try to push your arms away from your body to produce an even better stretch. That way, you can also stretch the back muscles. It’ll help your ribs expand as well, which should help you breathe better.
8. Trunk Rotations
While sitting, rotate your upper body towards one side and then the other. You can hold the armrest of your seat to further rotate your back.
This exercise is great to avoid back pain due to prolonged sitting and uncomfortable sitting posture.
Exercises You Can Do During a Layover
Layovers are great during long travel because it gives you a chance to walk around and do some additional stretches that require more space than what you have onboard.
While you’re waiting at your gate, you should try to elevate your legs. You can use your suitcase to put your legs up if there aren’t any free seats next to you.
Here are some exercises you can do during a layover.
1. Light Walk for 30 Minutes
Walking for a few minutes is great cardio. It gets your whole body moving and is the best thing to avoid ankle swelling. (Reference)
2. Stair Climbing
Find some stairs and go up and down a few times. It’ll reduce joint stiffness and improve muscle activity that’ll help you feel better on the plane.
3. Toe Reaching
Sitting for too long can cause your back muscles and the muscles in your leg to tighten up. Toe reaching exercise can bring back some mobility and get the blood flowing in your legs.
For that, just stand firmly and bend down to reach your toes. Try to only bend your hips and not your knees. You should feel a stretch in your hamstrings (muscles on the back of your thigh).
Similarly, bring one foot forward and bend down again to touch the front foot.
This time, you can bend the opposite knee as well. That’ll help you stretch your calf muscles as well which tend to get stiff after sitting with bent knees for a long time.
Hold the stretch for 10 to 15 seconds on each side.
4. Squats
Squats can activate your glutes and move your hip in the full range of motion. That’s great because your hips are stuck in mid-range while you sit in an airplane seat.
Perform 10 to 15 squats. Go slow and sit down in a squat if it feels good for your hips.
5. Lunges to Stretch the Legs
Put one foot in front of you while taking the other one as far back as possible.
Bend your knees and hips to lower your body. That’ll bring a stretch in your thigh muscles and hip flexors which are at risk of undergoing cramps after long-haul flights.
Perform this stretch on both sides and ideally hold for 10-15 seconds.
6. Quads Stretch
Stand up straight and hold on to something if you need to. Bend one leg so that your toes touch your buttock (or get as close as possible).
Hold this stretch for 10-15 seconds and then release.
This exercise stretches the quadriceps muscles which are located in the front of your thigh.
The Takeaway
Exercising becomes all the more important when you’re performing an activity that’s unusual for your body – which in this case is sitting in one place without any walking for hours.
If you’re a smoker, pregnant, have varicose veins, had surgery recently etc. then exercising becomes essential because all these conditions put you at a greater risk of developing DVT.
The exercises we’ve covered in this post are basic. So you can easily do them no matter if you routinely exercise in a gym or not.
Moving your body to get the blood flowing can have a positive effect on your mood and fatigue levels as well. (Reference)
Hence performing exercises during long flights have a multitude of benefits for your physical and mental health.
Try out these exercises next time you’re on a long-haul flight or a long car ride. You can even do these at home if you don’t want to get up from your comfy chair to exercise.