Anxiety about flying is common during the best of times: Research suggests up to 40% of people worldwide have some degree of aerophobia. Add a string of recent plane crashes and other horrifying incidents to the mix, and feeling jittery about boarding a plane seems perfectly reasonable. “I’m hearing about it a lot from patients, and we talk about it within the psychiatry department, too,” says Dr. Nathan Carroll, chief resident of psychiatry at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, who’s scheduled to take a flight in two weeks. “People are like, ‘Ehhh, maybe I’ll drive instead.’” Such anxiety is natural—but, he stresses, shouldn’t overshadow the fact that flying is still safe in the U.S. “Despite it being in the news so frequently, we know it's really safe,” he says. “There are thousands and thousands of flights every day that don't crash. If we compare it to cars, it's still way safer.” According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), about 45,000 commercial and private flights take off each day in the U.S., carrying 2.9 million passengers, and the odds of dying in an air disaster are astronomically small: about 1 in 13.7 million. (That’s compared to 1 in 95 odds of dying in a car accident.) Here’s what to do if you’re anxious about flying right now. Grottoes bear the enduring touch of Tang Branded Content Grottoes bear the enduring touch of Tang By China Daily Accept your anxiety Martin Seif, a psychologist who co-founded the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, has treated thousands of people with aerophobia. He says the recent aviation disasters haven’t impacted his clients as much as you might think: They're already so anxious about flying that many avoid it altogether, so the news events are almost irrelevant to them. The most profound impact, he says, has been on reluctant flyers who have traditionally still managed to board the plane, though they don't relish the experience. “What’s happened is that the normally nervous people who go on airplanes—who don’t like thinking about it too much but say, ‘OK, I have to get there’—are having an uptick in their concerns and fear of flying,” Seif says. "Specifically, they’re having an uptick in anticipatory anxiety,” or excessive worry or fear about a future event. Read More: 8 Symptoms Doctors Often Dismiss As Anxiety If you have a flight booked and are feeling anxious about it, Seif recommends telling yourself: “I’m committed to going on this flight. I’m going no matter what.” That helps tamp down anticipatory anxiety, he says, because it reduces the amount of debating you’ll do with yourself about whether you should still go or not. “The first thing I tell people is to expect anxiety, accept it, and allow it,” he says. “Anxiety is very, very strange. The more you fight it, the greater it gets.” Instead of obsessing about trying to calm down—and giving your anxiety more oxygen—simply stand by your decision to fly and “learn to let the time pass,” he says. Focus on the perks of air travel If you’re nervous about flying, spend time thinking about the ways it enriches your life and allows you to meet your goals, says Madeline Marks, a practicing psychologist with the University of Maryland Medical Center. She suggests asking yourself why you bought a plane ticket in the first place, and listing the ways that flying serves you. “Flying might allow you to visit your loved ones, because one of your core values is your family, and spending time with friends celebrating milestones,” she says. “Maybe one of your big values is appreciating other cultures and food, so seeing the world is important to you.” Or, jetting across the country to attend a work-related conference might allow you to network and advance in your field. Remind yourself that “airline travel has allowed us to be more globally connected,” Marks says, “and to connect more with these activities that give our life meaning.” Cut off your news consumption It might feel impossible to escape headlines about what caused American Eagle Flight 5342 to crash in Washington, D.C., or videos from inside the Delta plane that flipped on its roof during a landing in Toronto. But Carroll advises looking away from aviation-related news—including speculation about how firings of FAA staff could potentially impact safety. We don't yet know how things will play out, he says, and worrying isn’t going to help ensure your flight goes smoothly. If possible, start tuning out the news at least two weeks before your flight. “It might sound like a long period of time for someone who really is a news junkie,” he says. “You don’t have to go cold turkey, but gradually decreasing the amount of news you consume will make you calmer in general.” Start calming yourself down well before you get on the plane Aim to be as relaxed as possible on your travel day—which might mean starting to get ready for your trip early, rather than jamming all your errands, chores, and packing into the day before you leave. If the airport isn't close to home, it can even be helpful to book a hotel nearby, Carroll says, so you don't have the added stress of a long drive. Read More: Do You Really Store Stress in Your Body? Throughout your travels, practice progressive muscle relaxation or deep-breathing exercises, which can, for example, be helpful as you wait in the security line. Once you’re on the plane, you could even put the dreaded barf bag into use: Breathing into a paper bag can help curb anxiety attacks, allowing people to resume normal breathing patterns. “Your neighbors might get a little nervous,” Carroll says. “But it actually works.” Take comfort in your past flying experiences Anxious flyers can think themselves out of their fear, Carroll says. The key is identifying and challenging negative thought patterns, instead reframing them so they're more realistic and productive. You might tell yourself, for example, that you’ve gone on dozens of flights before, and every single one has landed safely. Or you could remind yourself that the pilots in the cockpit have spent hundreds of hours training for this very flight. “You’re using the rational and logical part of your brain to confront the emotion-driven limbic part of your brain,” he says. “It’s very effective.” Avoid triggers Avoid anything that might exacerbate your anxiety on flight day. That includes caffeine, alcohol, and illicit drugs, says Dr. Lokesh Shahani, a psychiatrist with UTHealth Houston. “We know that caffeine makes people anxious, so avoiding coffee the morning of flying is an important thing you could do,” he says. Similarly, while you might be inclined to order an in-flight cocktail to dull your nerves, opt for a soda or juice instead: “Alcohol could actually worsen your anxiety,” he says.
