Flying During Pregnancy and Cosmic Radiation

What is Cosmic Radiation?
Cosmic radiation is charged particles such as protons and helium ions. These particles move through space and originate from outside of our solar system as well as the sun. When these particles enter our Earth’s atmosphere they collide with various atoms creating secondary radiation. By the time this radiation has reached the ground its intensity is significantly reduced and minimal.

How does this Affect Flight Travel?
The quantity of exposure to cosmic radiation during flight travel will depend on how often you fly, how long your flight journey is and the solar activity at the time. However, solar flares contribute very minimally towards cosmic radiation overall. If you fly very rarely, such as an annual holiday you have nothing to worry about as exposure will be very low. For people who fly frequently such as air flight attendants and people who travel frequently for business it may be that the radiation you are exposed to becomes a little more than that normally experienced by ground workers.

How much is too much?
During flight cosmic radiation can be up to 100 times more intense than that experienced on the ground. However, don’t let this frighten you off flying; this amount is still amazingly minimal and quite negligible. You would have to fly 100 single way trips before you were exposed to the same amount of radiation as we normally experience within a year.

However it is important to know that some researchers believe persistent flying can lead to cancer if not years then decades on down the line.  However the chance of you contracting cancer at some point in your life due to frequent flying is very, very slim and thus dramatically so for any one who is just a casual holiday maker.

Can Cosmic Radiation during Flight Harm my Baby?
It is still not really known if frequent flying can cause harm to an unborn baby or not however it is widely regarded that annual trips will not cause any harm. Generally speaking, try to avoid flying during pregnancy if you can as traveling whilst pregnant can be very uncomfortable however, if you can’t reschedule or do not wish to it’s perfectly safe for you to continue with your air travel plans.

It is not recommended to travel by plane during the third trimester and most airports refuse boarding if you are over 35 weeks of pregnancy. Most studies and researchers have concluded that there are no signs of cosmic radiation exposure during pregnancy causes any birth defects but we do know that unborn babies tend to be much more sensitive to these elements. As such authorities have concluded that no pregnant women should expose herself to more than 200 hours of flying during this time which will keep exposure to an acceptable minimum and be very highly unlikely to cause any problems whatsoever.

• Cosmic radiation occurs when charged particles collide with atoms in the earth’s atmosphere.

• The more you fly the more you are exposed to cosmic radiation but this is till very minimal.

• Researchers have concluded that flight travel during pregnancy is not harmful to unborn babies.

• It is recommended you fly no more than 200 hours in total during your pregnancy.