Staying healthy during flights

When I was younger my Dad travelled extensively.  I actually don’t remember him being away that much to be honest.  He was away overnight often, but he was generally home for the weekends and limited long trips to a few a year.  But in reality he travelled almost weekly and sometimes daily, as he had offices around Australia.  No he is not Superman (although he is to me) he just did a lot of back to back flying in order to be home as much as possible.  So going back and forth to Sydney or Melbourne twice in a week, was something he just did.
This year I have done the most flying for several years and most of it has been business related.  For Event Managers travel can be just part of the job and in my younger days it was something I really enjoyed about my job.  But gone are the days when it was a novelty, I now have to actively promote positive thoughts about flying, as I find it to be a real chore.  I am not a germ-a-phobe but I do often find myself with a cold after a trip away and I also find flying to be incredibly tiring, which I put down to the atmosphere in the plane (dry, air conditioned, noisy etc). 
When I had a bit of whinge about flying to my Dad recently he first suggested I take a bit reality check and then kindly offered me these tips for staying healthy and refreshed when flying.

• Practice good hygiene and even if its not something you generally do, use a hand sanitiser (ok this one is more mine than Dad’s).
• Drink, Drink, Drink…WATER!
• Limit your food intake and give alcohol a miss.  If you are flying for 3 hours or less consider eating before you board and having just a snack on the plane. 
• Limit Caffeine – it dehydrates you.
• Use your flight to have a cat-nap  – take earplugs and a mask.  If you can’t sleep, try to relax by listening to gentle music on your iPod.  If you must work on the plane try to limit this. 
• Walk around the plane every 2-3 hours (he swears by this one).  Both Dad and I are big fans of the aisle seat…you achieve a little extra leg room and its easy to get up when you need to.  Yes you have the issue of people trying to get past you but generally those seated in the middle or at the window move around less!
• Dress comfortably – if you have a meeting or event to attend on landing consider using the restrooms to change on arrival.
• Give yourself plenty of time to arrive at the airport before your flight – being late causes unnecessary stress which is not good for the body and can tire you out before you have begun (this is Dad’s big tip and when he drives me to the airport I am there a little too early for my liking…but I get the point).