Q:  Plane travel & Bipolar Disorder

Dear. Dr Phelps,

I have heard that flying/altitude( especially when one travels across time zones)  affects a bipolar person especially in the height of a manic period. Is there research that shows this? What do you know of this! 
Thank you.
Mell



Dear Mell -- 
To my knowledge, it's the time zones, not the altitude, that makes plane travel an issue.  From my website, on this topic: 

Travel crossing time zones creates automatic potential for sleep change: deprivation when traveling east, additional time when going west. Two studies report symptoms brought on by travel, with mania more common going east, and depression going west.^{Young, Jauhar}  Major travel within the same time zone (e.g. my Oregon patient who became manic in Mexico) may be destabilizing due to stress alone.

Dr. Phelps

Published January, 2005