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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

1 supplement

Yohimbine: outcomes studied for Fear of Flying
GradeOutcomeEffectSizeStudiesPeopleStudies list
Phobia Symptoms

Small Improvement

Improves (the measure goes down)Small effect2 studies48 people

Key findings

  • Phobia SymptomsYohimbineImproves (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

See the full protocol

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Studies cited

2 studies from PubMed

  1. Does yohimbine hydrochloride facilitate fear extinction in virtual reality treatment of fear of flying? A randomized placebo-controlled trialPsychother Psychosom · PMID 22116378
  2. Facilitation of fear extinction in phobic participants with a novel cognitive enhancer: a randomized placebo controlled trial of yohimbine augmentationJ Anxiety Disord · PMID 19223151