Air Flights – How To Cope With Fear Of Flying When On Holiday
June 10th, 2009 by Dorothy Yamich, under Vacations. No Comments
Fear of flying is called Aviophobia, and millions of vacationers and business flyers who travel on commercial flights worldwide are affected by it, to a greater or lesser extent. Even though air travel is approximately thirty times safer than traveling by car, you hardly hear about people that have a fear of driving. Maybe television, radio, internet and print media contribute to this fear when they graphically cover commercial airline crashes and the large number of air passengers that are injured or perish.
Fear of flying on commercial flights can be triggered by a number of concerns such as the fear of heights, the fear of falling, the fear of the takeoff and the landing, the fear of crashing, the fear of flying over water, the fear of flying at night, the feeling of losing control causing panic attacks, air turbulence, stormy weather, the fear of hijackers or terrorists, motion sickness, and claustrophobia such as the fear of being trapped in the confined space of an airline cabin as well as being packed in like sardines with your fellow passengers, and also other phobias.
Some of the other symptoms of the fear of flying can be mild nervousness to extreme anxiety and panic attacks, a shortness of breath and tightness in your chest, chest pains, clammy hands, headaches, as well as nausea and vomiting.
If your fear of flying is severe, you should consider enrolling in an intensive treatment program. However, if your fear of flying is not severe, there are some things you can do that may help remedy this problem.
Firstly, sit in a seat that is over the airplane wings, preferably not a window seat, so you cant look down at the ground. When you sit over the wings you will also experience a smoother flight.
If you can do it, you should leave your seat belt on as much as possible. If air turbulence suddenly occurs, you will not get jarred or bounced about as much.
Eat light and try to not to eat or drink any food or beverage that contains sugar, caffeine, or alcohol.
It will help if you try to stay positive and always think only of positive thoughts.
It may help to occupy your mind by listening to soft, soothing music on your I-Pod.
Sometimes it may help to wear eye shades and sleep if you can.
You may feel less stressed if you can book a flight that leaves at an off-peak time as there are usually fewer airline passengers to contend with.
If you are thinking of taking any prescription or over-the-counter drugs to calm yourself down on your flight, be sure that you consult first with your family doctor or pharmacist. Keep in mind that if you are already taking prescriptions for pre-existing conditions, any new medication, even the over-the-counter ones, may interact adversely with them.
I have a true story that could help you with this problem. A number of years ago a good friend of mine had a severe case of the fear of flying. His main fear was that he was afraid of dying in a plane crash. A funny thing is he had no problem driving all over the country, or taking a train or Greyhound bus when he traveled on his holidays.
Fortunately he got a job selling ads for a local community newspaper near a busy international airport. As he drove around to sell advertising to the stores in the area, he constantly observed huge commercial airliners taking off and landing every few minutes. He got used to hearing the deafening roar of airline engines day in and day out. Slowly, he eventually started to lose his fear of flying.
He finally made a big decision to go on a vacation in Hawaii, which he had always dreamed of doing. The only problem was that he had no choice but to fly. Before he left he took out flight insurance just in case the plane crashed. He wanted to be sure he would leave something for his mom and dad if he didnt come back.
Before boarding aircraft he took one sleeping pill and hoped it would keep him calm. He intentionally booked a window seat so he was able to see where he was going and what the earth and ocean looked like from the air.
When the flight attendant told all the passengers to fasten their seat belts, he cinched his belt up so tightly he thought that it would break. On the long flight to Hawaii he only removed his seat belt to go to the washroom. During the flight the only thing that really annoyed him was that his ears got plugged and hurt because of the changes in cabin pressure on the takeoff and landing. A helpful fellow passenger suggested that he should chew some gum and that seemed to solve the problem.
When he eventually landed in Hawaii he was so proud of himself! After all those wasted years of being hung up on that debilitating phobia, he finally had broken free. All it took was working near a large airport and watching as well as hearing the constant takeoffs and landings of these huge commercial airliners to reprogram his mind.
If you do have a fear of flying you must try and rid yourself of this debilitating, irrational fear. Your life will be changed forever when you allow yourself to soar with the eagles and fly anywhere in this wonderful world that your heart desires.
Visit FlyingWithoutFear.com if you would like more information on how vacationers as well as business travelers can lessen their fear of flying. This company offers you a free online self-help course that we highly recommend taking. The course is conducted by a currently flying airline captain.
