According to Stratos Jets, up to 40% of people experience a fear of flying. Flight anxiety can range from mild to severe, and is one of the most common phobias today. Despite planes having been around for just over a century, flying, and other extended travel, can still cause people anxiety. This kind of fear can turn something meant to be enjoyable, like a vacation or special trip, into something to be dreaded. Flight anxiety isn’t the only travel anxiety someone might experience — others can include driving anxiety, agoraphobia, and generalized anxiety.
There are several reasons that someone might have travel anxiety, including outside factors, past experiences and trauma, or co-occurrences with other anxiety disorders. In fact, you don’t need a disorder to experience travel anxiety in a way that disrupts your quality of life. The following tips and information are designed to help you understand and cope with any travel anxiety that you might have.
Symptoms of travel anxiety
Anxiety can manifest in many ways. Some of the most common symptoms of travel anxiety can be:
- Trouble sleeping: Anxiety can cause issues with falling asleep, staying asleep, and getting restful sleep. Furthermore, being sleep deprived can worsen the effects and feelings of anxiety, alongside other unfavorable symptoms. Anxiety and insomnia are commonly linked, according to the Sleep Foundation.
- Inability to relax: Similarly, anxiety and associated symptoms can make it harder to relax. Intrusive thoughts, generalized anxiety, and paranoia can all be barriers to relaxing. This can cause prolonged stress, irritation, and can make anxiety symptoms feel permanent. Furthermore, this can interfere with sleep, social time, and the ability to make fond memories during travel.
- Panic attacks: Panic attacks are different from generalized anxiety, as they are often a period where symptoms or feelings are heightened past the ability to function normally. If you’ve never had a panic attack before, it can be incredibly scary to experience one. Panic attacks are often brought on when anxiety triggers are heightened— such as getting on an airplane for several hours.
- Physical health problems: Prolonged anxiety can cause a myriad of physical health problems. These can include GI distress, body aches, teeth grinding, ulcers, and even heart problems. This is why anxiety is no simple matter, and should be taken seriously. If left untreated, your anxiety can cause severe damage to your body, not just your mind.
Any of these symptoms can be shared with symptoms of anxiety or general stress. This is why identifying the root cause of your anxiety can do more toward overcoming it than treating specific symptoms — though, treatment can make it more manageable in the long run.
Identifying the causes of travel anxiety
When it comes to anxiety, there often tend to be specific triggers that you can pinpoint as the root cause. Triggers can be anything that sets off an anxiety response, from intrusive thoughts to sensory input. Some triggers might include:
These aren’t the only thing that can trigger travel anxiety, but are some of the most common. If you can identify the root cause of your anxiety triggers, then you can make steps towards alleviating, or altogether removing, the trigger. This can be done in several different ways.
Coping with travel anxiety
Learning how to cope with anxiety can make travel experiences more enjoyable and provide overall benefits for mental health. While anxiety can feel overwhelming, as can the accompanying symptoms, there are tools that you can use to ease it. It’s possible that you may never be totally free from your anxiety — but that doesn’t mean you have to be at the mercy of it, either.
Plan, plan, plan
Planning can help reduce feelings of anxiety, especially if your anxiety is rooted in the unknown. Planning ahead for travel doesn’t just have to be making an itinerary — you can also research the area for restaurants, attractions, and even local medical services and grocery stores. This can help you feel more comfortable and prepared in a new space, should something go wrong. Tools like Google Maps have made this kind of research easier than ever.
Practice grounding techniques
Grounding techniques can be a great option for reducing anxiety triggers and coming back from panic attacks. The purpose of grounding is to pull you out of whatever trigger you’re experiencing, into a place where you can function more clearly.
There are several types of grounding techniques, including the 54321 method. This is a method of cataloging your surroundings to bring you back into your body. Other grounding techniques might employ breathing techniques, deep pressure, or mantras.
Go with good company
Traveling with the right company can make a huge difference to travel anxiety. Not only can these people provide a sense of familiarity, but they can also help assist in the grounding process, if or when triggers arise. Traveling with people you trust can also help make the planning of a trip smoother and less anxious.
Consider medication
Using all the above methods in concert is an excellent way to start managing your travel anxiety. However, for acute symptoms or triggers, like traveling, medication can be an effective treatment for reducing aspects of travel anxiety more immediately. Certain over-the-counter medications can help combat symptoms like restlessness, while your doctor may be able to prescribe an anti-anxiety pill if over-the-counter options aren’t having the desired effect. It can take time to adjust to a new medication, so be sure you give yourself a trial window before your travel dates. Always talk to your care team during the process of adding new medications into your routine, and never take any unlabelled or unknown medications.
When to get professional help
Mindful planning and self-care can often be enough to manage travel anxiety. However, getting additional help can go a long way to combatting the reasons for anxiety, and improve your quality of life in other areas too. Seeking out a psychiatrist, or other kind of therapist can give you even more tools to manage your anxiety. Because they are professionals, they will be able to give you a unique perspective on why you feel the way you feel that you might not be able to come to on your own. It should be noted that while there are many types of therapy specialties, only those with an M.D. can prescribe medication. Therapists without an M.D. often specialize in other types of therapy. Most insurances provide coverage for mental health services at little to no extra cost to you.
With these tips, you can learn to manage your travel anxiety and travel more comfortably. The overall benefits traveling can have on your physical, mental, and intellectual well-being can be worth confronting and managing your travel anxiety.
