Flights – How Can You Cope With Fear Of Flying When On Vacation?
The fear of flying is called Aviophobia. There are millions of vacationers and business people who travel on commercial air flights as well as potential flyers worldwide that suffer from it, to a greater or lesser extent. Even though air travel is about thirty times safer than traveling by car, you very rarely hear about people that have a fear of driving. Maybe the television, radio, internet and print media contributes to this fear when they graphically cover commercial airline crashes and the subsequent large number of air travelers that are injured or perish.
Fear of flying can be started by a number of concerns such as the fear of take off and landing, the fear of crashing, the fear of heights, the fear of falling, the fear of flying over water, the fear of flying at night, the feeling of losing control causing panic attacks, stormy weather, air turbulence, hijackers or terrorists, motion sickness, claustrophobia such as the fear of being sealed in the confined space of an airplane cabin or by being packed into the small confines of the aircraft with your fellow passengers, as well as other phobias.
Some more symptoms of the fear of flying are mild nervousness to extreme anxiety, panic attacks, shortness of breath, tightness in your chest, chest pain, clammy hands, a headache, including 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 over the airplane wings, preferably not a window seat, so you cant look down at the ground. When you are sitting over the wings you will also experience a smoother flight.
If you can, you should leave your seat belt on as much as possible, so if air turbulence suddenly occurs, you wont get bounced or jarred 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.
Try to occupy your mind and calm your thoughts by listening to soft, soothing music on your I-Pod.
It usually helps to wear eye shades and try to sleep on the flight if you can.
You may feel a little less stressed if you can catch flights that take off at off-peak times as there are usually fewer airline passengers to contend with.
If you are thinking about taking some prescription or over-the-counter drugs to calm yourself down on your flight, be sure that you first consult with your family doctor or pharmacist. Keep in mind that if you are already taking prescriptions for pre-existing conditions, any new medication may interact adversely with them. Most over-the-counter drugs can be dangerous.
I have a true story that may help you with the fear of flying. A number of years ago a good friend of mine had a severe problem dealing with the fear of flying. His main fear was that he was terrified of dying in a plane crash. A funny thing is that he had absolutely no problem driving all over the country, or taking a Greyhound bus or train when he traveled on his holidays.
Fortunately he started working 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 saw commercial airliners take off and land day in and day out. He heard the loud roar of airline engines every day. Eventually he started to lose his fear of flying.
He finally made a huge decision to vacation on the big island of Hawaii, which he had always longed to do. The only concern was that he had no choice but to fly. He then bought flight insurance in case the plane crashed. He wanted to be sure leave something for his mother and father if he did not 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 the passengers to fasten their seat belts, he cinched his belt up so tight he said he thought he would break it. All through the flight he removed his seat belt only to go to the washroom. During the flight to Hawaii the only thing that really bothered him was that his ears got plugged up and hurt because of the changes in cabin pressure on the takeoff and landing. A fellow passenger suggested that he should chew some gum and that seemed to do the trick.
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 helpful company offers a free online self-help course that we highly recommend you take. Its conducted by a currently flying airline captain.
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June 09 2009 03:36 am | Vacations