As a fussy flier, I do everything I can to make travel days as comfortable as possible. I keep my emotional support water bottle and noise-cancelling headphones close, make sure I have plenty of cozy layers to wear, yummy snacks to eat and a rotation of skin care products. Compression socks are one of the more recent additions to my carry-on bags and have actually been the most invaluable, especially on long-haul flights.
In previous HuffPost reporting, Dr. Scott N. Hurlbert, a vascular surgeon in Colorado Springs, Colorado, explained, “When you are traveling by air, you usually don’t have much room to move around. As a result, the blood becomes more stagnant, which can lead to blood clots.” Between that and dehydration, flying may increase your risk of developing a type of blood clot called deep vein thrombosis, or DVT.
Wearing compression socks can mimic the contraction function of the calf muscles, even if you aren’t walking around, said Dr. Michael Go, an associate professor in the division of vascular diseases and surgery at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. “They are also good at preventing the leg swelling that some people get after a long plane trip,” he added.
