It’s time to quash that rebellion before it begins.

The aches, tiredness and general achy feelings that most of us experience on longer flights is often as much to do with blood flow as it is with jet-lag.

Here are 5 exercises you can do to improve your blood-flow and have a much better chance of making it to your hotel room without cramping up, bursting into tears or punching anyone.

1. Go for a walk

Even on the new jetliners, space is offered at a premium. A normal walk isn’t going to be able to help you much.

We can renovate our walking and get our blood flowing by deliberately lifting our knees high with each step (be gentle, kicking other passengers is a great way to meet airline security).

I wouldn’t recommend walking ten miles like this, but in the cramped conditions it will force extra blood flow through your posterior and give your whole body a wake up. Try to lift your knees to waist height with each step.

If you’re self conscious wait until everyone else has their sleep masks on and do a couple of laps of economy. Your fellow travelers will still think you’re weird, but they’ll pretend they’re sleeping.

2. The full body roll

The seatbelt lights on. You know you have to stay in your seat, but after hours in the air, cramps are setting in and you’re in pain. You feel like you need to so something, but without upsetting your air hostess.

Just rolling your shoulders might help, but again I think we can do better. (If there is eleven hours to go on our flight, we have to.)

This exercise starts as a shoulders roll but continue the motion down your body as if you were trying to touch your stomach, then your hips on the seat in front of you. Once you have finished this and collected a worried look from those around you, reverse the motion.

Five to ten sets back and forth will help get extra blood and nutrients to your tired upper body’s muscles and joints.

3. Bobble head

We’ve walked, we’ve rolled. Things are feeling better, but a major area of our body still desperately needs our help.

Our necks and shoulders collect most of our tension during long periods of sitting and this goes double if you type or otherwise occupy your hands during the flight.

First of all, gently rotate your neck to reintroduce blood flow. Imagine a pen has been attached point down to your chin. Pretend to draw tiny circles on your food tray with your imaginary pen.

Gradually increase the size of each circle until you reach twenty reps and you are at your comfortable range of motion. Now reverse direction, starting with the small circles again and working your way up.

I generally do this just once in either direction, but since you aren’t moving beyond a comfortable range of motion it’s safe to perform several sets each way.

4. Spinal decompression

After hours in your seat, your spine feels like it’s been fused together into one stiff painful rod. This exercise is designed to help you gently relax and lengthen your spine and back muscles.

While still in your seat bring your knees up and hug them to your chest. If this is impossible then grip underneath your knees with your calf muscles resting on your forearms.

Take a deep breath, hold for a second and then breathe out. As you breathe out gently rock your self back and forth in your seat.

Then explain to the passenger next you what you’re doing. Trust me, they want to know.

Five full breathes in and out with accompanying gentle rocking will help alleviate back pain and also makes a good wake up and mobility exercise if you have managed to catch an in flight nap.

5. Spinal tension release

If, after you have tried the decompression exercise, your back is still feeling stiff or sore, then something more drastic may be required.

You will notice that this exercise is the only pure stretch that I have given you, and as such I would rather that you tried everything else in this article first to warm up before doing the tension release.

Bring one leg off the floor (I always start on the right) and rest it on the top of the opposite knee (it should look like you have half folded your legs). You should feel slight tension in your hamstrings as they are stretched.

Take your left hand across your body and use it to gently twist your upper body away from the leg that’s on the floor. Imagine you’re trying to look at something interesting two rows back from you and on the ceiling.

If you carry a lot of tension in your back, as I do, there may be a series of clicking sounds from your back. These aren’t anything to worry about as long as you aren’t feeling any pain.

Once you have done the right hand turn, repeat on your left. I always recommend doing the release on both sides, as if just one side is done you can end causing yourself more pain. Not less.

The most important piece of advice

All of these exercises are intended to be done gently. You’re in cramped space with other people, so sudden movements will be counter productive.

If you have any injuries to the areas I’ve mentioned extra blood flow is probably still a good thing, but run it by your Dr before you go popping any stitches.

There are many other exercises you can do to help you overcome the stress and strain of air travel. The principles I have presented in this article can easily be applied to any other exercises you can think up.

Have fun, experiment a little and see what works. After all, if you’ve done these five exercises, your fellow passengers have now accepted your weirdness and will avoid you at baggage claim.

Who cares what they think.

Andrew Brown is a freelance writer and fitness enthusiast working out of Christchurch New Zealand. You can check out more of his writing at Fighter’s Review or at his blog.

Your head is throbbing and you’re ready to smother the brat with a pillow.

A drink would really hit the spot. Maybe two.

Problem is, most drinks available on planes leave you thirsty, tired and a frequent visitor to the tiny aircraft bathrooms.

Except for water, virtually every drink the flight attendants offer, alcoholic or not, will contain a truckload of sugar. The sugar hit from these drinks will send your insulin levels soaring.

As soon as your body brings its insulin back under control, your energy levels fall away, leaving you feeling even worse than when you started sipping.

Normally I would be on the “Drink Lots of Water!” bandwagon, but most of us want something a little more robust to help us reach the end of the journey.

If you’re keen for a beverage more inspiring than spring water, try some of these:

1. Bloody Mary

1 1/2 ounces vodka
1/2 cup tomato juice
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Worcestershire sauce (to taste)
Tabasco (to taste)
1 celery stick for garnish

Unless you’re lucky enough to be in business class you’re unlikely to get a cocktail made on the spot. Instead, see if the flight attendant will give you the ingredients to mix your own.

Avoid the pre-mix packets like the plague; they contain high fructose corn syrup that is even worse for you than the sugar in other drinks.

Salt And Fiber, Hold The Sugar

So why a Bloody Mary? Mostly it’s the tomato juice.

Tomato juice, assuming that it’s of reasonable quality, doesn’t spike your blood sugar in the same way as soda or orange juice. This will give you a smoother dose of energy.

It also contains salt, which will save you from endless trips to the tiny bathroom. Tomato juice also has a decent serving of fiber, which will help keep you satiated until you can get a proper meal.

The Tabasco and Worcestershire sauces give your palette a bit of interest, and the spiciness of the Tabasco will help kick start your metabolism after sitting still for so long.

2. Virgin Mary

All the wholesome goodness of the Bloody Mary with none of the downsides, the Virgin Mary is literally the same drink without the vodka.

I find this version of the Bloody Mary a little bland, so I recommend extra Tabasco sauce to help make the drink more interesting.

Remember – the real benefit from these drinks comes from the tomato juice (which also contains a cancer fighting phyto-chemical called lycopene) so make sure you’re not skimping on the red stuff.

3. Ginger Ale

Feeling ill? Ginger ale could be your savior. One of the best drinks for turbulence affected flights, the ginger will soothe your stomach and prevent nausea.

There is a downside though; most commercial brands of ginger ale have high levels of sugar, which leads to the dreaded insulin spike and energy crash.

Try a diet ginger ale, or ginger beer if you’re given the option. If you can’t get either of these, follow your ginger ale with a large drink of water to help dilute the sugar rush.

4. Brandy and Ginger

This drink makes a good post turbulence nightcap. Usually made with elderflower cordial, which can be hard to come by (especially at 36,000 feet), you can use lemon juice instead to give the drink an extra twist:

1 shot of brandy
1 shot of elderflower cordial (or squeeze of lemon)
fill with ginger ale

The brandy will give you a little warmth in your throat while the ginger ale works its magic, soothing your stomach. Unfortunately, this is another high-sugar drink so try to limit yourself to one or two for the duration of the trip.

5. H2O is still the King!

No matter what you are drinking, you should still be drinking water like you won’t get any after you land.

The air conditioning on all aircraft will dehydrate you much faster than usual. This goes double if you are having alcoholic or caffeinated drinks, as these will dehydrate you even more.

This is why getting drunk on a plane is a real risk. Your abused, dehydrated body can’t take the same punishment it can handle on the ground.

So next time the drink cart trundles by, ask for a Bloody Mary and a bottle of water. That way both you and the screaming child have a chance of making it to the baggage claim alive.

Andrew Brown is a freelance writer and fitness enthusiast working out of Christchurch New Zealand. You can check out more of his writing at Fighter’s Review or at his blog.