Condition
Fear of Flying
Fear of flying, or aviophobia, is a specific phobia in which the body's alarm system reacts strongly to air travel, from mild worry to avoiding planes altogether. L-theanine and oral lavender have the strongest evidence among calming supplements, rated moderate, though no flying-specific results were found for them. The only flying-related research found that yohimbine, paired with exposure therapy, improved phobia symptoms in two small studies of 48 people, so that evidence is limited.
Sources: PMID 19223151; PMID 22116378
- Supplements studied
- 1
- Graded outcomes
- 1
- Trials
- 1
- People studied
- 48
Evidence by supplement
- Strong
- Moderate
- Limited
- Very limited
| Grade | Outcome | Effect | Size | Studies | People | Studies list |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phobia Symptoms Small Improvement | Improves (the measure goes down) | Small effect | 2 studies | 48 people | ||
Studies that measured phobia symptoms | ||||||
Key findings
- Phobia SymptomsImproves (the measure goes down)
The Fear of Flying (Aviophobia) Support protocol
2 primary supplements · 5 supporting supplements
- L-Theanine200–400 mg 30–60 minutes before flight; can repeat during flight
- Magnesium200–400 mg glycinate before flight
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Studies cited
11 studies from PubMed
- Melatonin responses to clonidine and yohimbine challenges
- Psychological and neuroendocrine responses to social stress and to the administration of the alpha-2-receptor antagonist, yohimbine, in highly trained endurance athletes in comparison to untrained healthy controls
- Effects of yohimbine on cerebral blood flow, symptoms, and physiological functions in humans
- Yohimbine treatment of organic erectile dysfunction in a dose-escalation trial
- Yohimbine for erectile dysfunction: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials
- Yohimbine: the effects on body composition and exercise performance in soccer players
- Facilitation of fear extinction in phobic participants with a novel cognitive enhancer: a randomized placebo controlled trial of yohimbine augmentation
- Pharmacologically induced alcohol craving in treatment seeking alcoholics correlates with alcoholism severity, but is insensitive to acamprosate
- Effect of anti-obesity drugs promoting energy expenditure, yohimbine and ephedrine, on gastric emptying in obese patients
- Comparative efficacy of yohimbine against pyridostigmine for the treatment of orthostatic hypotension in autonomic failure
- Does yohimbine hydrochloride facilitate fear extinction in virtual reality treatment of fear of flying? A randomized placebo-controlled trial