Yahoo Lifestyle Flight Anxiety Is At An All-Time High—But These Strategies Can Help
Say yes and deal with the consequences later. That’s what I tell myself before I agree to go on a trip that requires flying on an airplane to get there.
I love traveling—there’s something exhilarating about walking the streets of a new city and experiencing the way people in other parts of the world live. But getting to those places? Not so much.
As someone with intense flight anxiety, the days before a trip are filled with overwhelming worry, feelings of dread, and all the “what if” scenarios: What if something bad happens? What if we fall into the water? I don’t know how to swim. What if I don’t make it back? What if something bad happens? During the actual flight, those questions run through my head, and the physical symptoms start. I get a headache and sweaty palms. My heart starts beating fast, my fingers tremble, and I definitely can’t fall asleep, even if I really want to. Most people on the flight probably don’t assume a thing, but inside, I’m a total mess. I’m not totally sure when this fear developed, but I may have inherited some anxiety from my mom, who refused to fly for over 20 years, and only recently overcame her fear.
I’m certainly not alone in my flight anxiety. Recent headlines—like the severe turbulence that injured 30 people on an Air Europa flight to Uruguay, or the frightening incident aboard an Alaska Airlines flight where the door panel blew off mid flight—haven’t helped. Browse the comments on the social media post of a recent travel incident and you’ll find dozens of people anecdotally sharing their own fears about flying.
Why We Get In-Flight Anxiety
While there isn't yet data pointing to a recent increase in flight anxiety, Rebecca B. Skolnick, PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist and cofounder of MindWell NYC, says that her practice has seen a lot of referrals for fear of flying recently. While that could be related to the news, she says that it could also have to do with the decline in flying during the pandemic.
“That avoidance increased the fears or the feeling of danger [associated with flying], on top of events in the news,” says Skolnick, which can amplify fears for the people who are already prone to flight anxiety.
COVID aside, there are plenty of reasons why someone might experience flight anxiety. One of the more obvious ones is that flying can feel odd or unnatural, and for some, even life-threatening, says psychologist Andrew Rosen, PhD, founder and director of The Center for Treatment of Anxiety and Mood Disorders. “We're a ground-based species, and so it goes against our instincts to be up in the air,” he says. “And, if one doesn't understand the mechanism of aerodynamics and why it's completely safe to be in a plane, it feels like, ‘This is not supposed to be. I shouldn't be here. This is risky.’ ”
Those negative feelings normally shouldn’t get in the way of your traveling or daily functioning, says Kimberly Fishbach, PsyD, a clinical psychologist at NY Health Hypnosis & Integrative Therapy. “It's when it starts interfering with someone's functioning or life that it becomes more concerning and distressing.”
At times, flight anxiety may not be related to the actual experience of flying. Sometimes it’s related to pre-existing sensitivities to noise, feeling, or smells, says Fishbach. For example, people can have an adverse reaction to the vibrations on a plane, hearing the engine roar, or even a fear of experiencing panic symptoms in public and being embarrassed.
There’s also the feelings of a lack of control that can come with being on a plane. “[When we think about] the idea of not being in control of something as a bad thing, the nervous system becomes really dysregulated and it makes the mind and body believe it's in danger,” Fishbach says. And when this association is formed and repeated, that fear can turn into a full-blown phobia.
Luckily, there are ways to alleviate flight anxiety and its symptoms so that traveling isn’t quite so rough. Here are a few expert-approved tips:
Fill The Information Gap
Understanding more about what’s going on while you’re in flight might provide you with some relief. For example, if you struggle with turbulence, you should learn more about why it happens and how planes are built to withstand it, says Fishbach. She recommends comparing what you feel during turbulence to what happens when you’re on a boat: The boat may sway, but it’ll stay buoyant over big waves because it’s built to withstand that rockiness. Same goes for planes.
Learning about basic aerodynamics can also help alleviate some flight anxiety. Think about what happens when you stick your hand out of a moving car: The wind created by increased velocity eventually causes your arm to rise higher and higher. You would have to literally push your arm down in order to get it to come down at all, Dr. Rosen explains. Planes operate on the same principals.
If your fears revolve around crashing, getting real statistics about how safe planes are compared to other forms of transportation can also help put your mind at ease. Most people don’t know that it’s actually much riskier to ride in a car than fly on a plane. Your odds of dying in a car crash are 1 in 93. On a plane? One in 11 million, according to WGK Law.
Regulate Your Nervous System
Being on a plane can put your body on high alert, so regulating your nervous system can help calm racing thoughts, Fishbach says. Getting your nervous system to relax can be as simple as yawning. Forcing a yawn can cause a real yawn, which helps your body relax, Fishbach says. Another strategy for easing up physical tension is a practice called progressive muscle relaxation—which simply means actively relaxing each part of your body from head to toe in a controlled order. You can also focus on creating a nice, calming environment for yourself on the plane—maybe that’s listening to music that puts you in a good mood or doing a guided meditation.
“Any calming sensory experience can really feel grounding and bring you back to the present,” says Fishbach.
These days, airlines can play a role in quelling your angst too. Look for a guided meditation in your in-flight entertainment options—Delta flights have on-demand meditation sessions led by Peloton instructors, and Jetblue has a partnership with meditation service Open, that offers in-seat meditation sessions. If this isn’t an option, you can also look for meditation exercises specifically designed for flight anxiety on platforms like Headspace, YouTube, and Spotify.
Breathing exercises can help to calm the nervous system too. Fishbach recommends exhaling for six seconds and then inhaling through your diaphragm for four seconds. “By doing that, you're activating the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps to relax the body,” she says. I have found this tip extremely useful for slowing down my heart rate during turbulence. When hitting patches of rough air, I get super nervous, and I’ve found that intentionally focusing on taking deep breaths helps me disengage from my negative thoughts.
It’s also okay to ask for help during a flight. “Flight attendants know that people have anxieties,” Fishbach says. “I think a lot of people feel very alone in the experience, when in actuality, there's 20 million people who are also experiencing the same thing.”
Seek Professional Help
Those who experience severe flight anxiety may not find relief in self-administered strategies, and may benefit from seeking professional help from a therapist or other professional trained in mental health treatment. If your flight anxiety disrupts daily functioning, induces panic attacks, or makes you feel like you can’t move, or even keeps you from traveling to important events, you may want to think about getting help from a licensed mental health professional, says Fishbach.
When you head to your first session, you’ll likely start with some kind of evaluation that will inform your treatment plan. For most people, treatment eventually involves some form of exposure therapy—that’s when you’re exposed to situations or things you may be fearful of in a safe and controlled way.
For those with a fear of flying, exposure therapy may require going on an actual plane at some point, but it can start out with simpler tasks, like imagining being on the plane, doing all the things leading up to the flight, and even imagining worst case scenarios, Fishbach says. Teaching your brain to be desensitized to those triggers can help rewire your brain patterns.
Hypnosis—which involves getting your body so relaxed that your mind is more open to adopting new ideas, behaviors, or patterns of thinking—with a therapist or physician who is trained and qualified in this practice, can also be a great tool in relieving anxieties.
Putting These Techniques To Work
In my own battle with flight anxiety, my love of travel trumps not flying most times if I find the flight short enough for my liking—my current max is six hours, but I’m hoping I can push it to seven or eight soon. I’m still building up my mental strength to be able to fly to my dream destinations of Europe and Thailand, but these tips are already helping me.
In June, I traveled to Turks and Caicos, and while I still got my usual travel jitters, it helped that I was sitting with friends. Traveling with someone I know usually makes me feel a little better about flying.
Takeoff, landing, and moments of turbulence make me the most nervous, and my trip to Turks and Caicos was no different. When we hit some turbulence about halfway through the trip, I started telling myself how much I hated the experience. But I decided to check out the guided meditation offerings in Jetblue’s in-seat entertainment options, per the experts’ recommendations. And after a 10-minute flight anxiety mindfulness exercise, which was led by a soothing male voice who took me through different breathing exercises, I was able to fall asleep for 20 minutes. While that might not seem like a lot, I never ever fall asleep on planes, even on red eye flights or after taking sleep medication.
I’m still holding out hope that these strategies and flying more often will allow me to one day travel to all the faraway places I dream about—and that my fear of flying won’t ever stop me from clicking “purchase” on a plane ticket ever again.
You Might Also Like
