Raw dogging is a travel trend that doctors fear could kill you. Photo / Hanson Lu on Unsplash
It’s all the rage right now. Raw dogging.
The controversial travel trend that sees plane passengers spend their entire flight staring dead-ahead, without entertainment, sustenance or water, is hugely popular across social media - but doctors aren’t impressed, they’re worried.
In an alarming update, medics are dubbing the craze as one of the most dangerous emerging travel trends, which could even kill you.
READ MORE: What is raw dogging a flight? The bizarre travel trend, explained
Popular with scores of travellers keen to test their boredom endurance on long-haul flights, raw dogging has even been adopted by the likes of Australian music producer Torren Foot and prominent Manchester City football player, Erling Haaland, undergoing raw dog mode on a 15-hour and seven-hour flight respectively.
Torren’s TikTok footage, detailing his mammoth LA to Melbourne flight has already racked up 11.9 million views.
Haaland went as far as suggesting the experience was no hardship; posting on social media platform, Instagram, with the message: ‘No phone no sleep no water no food only map #easy”
According to the BBC, some avid raw doggers are even forgoing using the toilet.
But it’s a movement that doctors are slamming amid concerns for passenger’s health and wellbeing.
“They’re idiots,” Dr Gill Jenkins bluntly told the BBC.
Jenkins, who is both a GP and a medical escort in air ambulance work also told the BBC that “A digital detox might do you some good, but all the rest of it is against medical advice.”
The biggest problems seem to be due to the lack of water and reduced movement, which could lead to an increased risk of dehydration and deep vein thrombosis (DVT).
“The whole thing about the risk of long-haul flying is that you’re at risk of dehydration” Jenkins says, going on to add, ”If you’re not moving you’re at risk of deep vein thrombosis, which is compounded by dehydration.”
Nutritionist Toby King also weighed in on the fad, reiterating to travel site Inspire Ambitions that blood clots are a real concern because they “can break off and cause a blockage of the arteries in the lung, which is very serious and can cause death.”
While many passengers trying the trend may consider their stoic feat to be impressive, King finds it worrisome.
“This is one of the most dangerous trends I have seen on social media in a while’, he said.
At the very least, not using the bathroom when you need to go is deeply uncomfortable and one of the few occasions when most plane passengers get to move about the cabin.
Fans of the trend often have little stimulation other than the flight map or staring at the headrest in front, and while this may sound like a healthy alternative to back-to-back movies and TV, Neuroscientist Mark Williams told RNZ that it’s not quite as ‘Zen’ as you might think.
“You’re not really unstimulated when you’re on a plane,” Williams said, before explaining that “You’re still going to have babies crying, the noise of the plane engine and all those sorts of things.”
In fact, trying to ignore such disturbances could actually put more stress on your system.
“Your attention is constantly being grabbed by that other information and being shoved into your working memory, so it’s very stressful on our brains,” the neuroscientist explained.
Despite the backlash, raw dogging remains popular across myriad social media sites and while medical professionals have voiced their concerns, the movement shows no sign of slowing down.
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