The Unexpected Item Many Frequent Travelers Swear By To Help Soothe Plane Anxiety

Air travel is so stressful and anxiety-inducing that it can transform even the most zen among us into a bundle of nerves. There's so much unpredictability, especially in the world's busiest airports, that some travelers won't even risk drowning out the noise with headphones. On TikTok, a video made rounds of a traveler who shared their worries about tragic airport announcements they might miss if they dared to slip on a pair. "Your flight has been canceled forever," they thought the announcement would say. And while the paranoia is relatable, there's a case to be made for headphones, particularly the noise-canceling ones. As it turns out, once you're actually on the plane, wearing them might help you tune down the anxiety.

Fear of flying is real, so much so that it wreaks havoc on the lives of about 20% of the population, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America. What's more, psychologist Dr. Barbara Cox explained that it has physical and psychological manifestations, including stomach and chest pains and doom-filled thoughts. "This fear can stem from a fear of not feeling in control," she told Bustle.

Thankfully, airlines recognize this, and some of them have rolled out in-flight features to help passengers soothe their flying anxiety, including incorporating guided meditations in their respective entertainment systems. But in case your airline doesn't have one, you can take matters into your own hands — and ears — by sporting a pair of the best noise-canceling headphones to create your own little bubble.

Noise-canceling headphones can't magically eradicate your anxiety, but they can help keep your worries at bay. After all, between worrying about whether or not you'll hear the dreaded chime mid-flight and dealing with a kid kicking your seat, it's easy to see why flying could turn into a dreadful experience.

Noise-canceling headphones do a bang-up job at silencing nearly everything, including the noisy engine of the plane. They're engineered to generate sound that counteracts ambient noise. And there's science to back up their anxiety reduction capabilities. A study published in the Indian Journal of Anaesthesia found that patients who listened to music and wore noise-canceling headphones during lower limb surgeries were significantly less anxious. Similarly, a study published in the Journal of Endourology found that patients who have undergone extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy felt less pain and anxiety when they combined music therapy with these headphones.

There are anecdotal stories, too. On the Reddit subreddit Fear of Flying, one user noted that noise-canceling headphones help even without playing music. "You won't be jumping at every little noise," they wrote. "One time I forgot them and someone crackling a chips bag a few rows over made me panic that we were gonna crash." Another noted, "Without hearing the loud plane noises, it's as if you almost forget you're on a plane. It also made it possible for me to fall asleep — something I've never been calm enough to do on a flight."

If the serene silence of noise-canceling headphones doesn't quite do it for you, you might want to stream some tunes as well. In fact, it's even encouraged by experts. "Music has a very long history of being able to move someone's psychological state from one state to another," music scientist David John Baker explained to Forbes. In a study commissioned by Spotify, anxiety psychologist Becky Spelman discovered that songs with a slow tempo (about 60 beats per minute) coupled with slow breathing, can also help quell your flight anxiety, per The Los Angeles Times. She has even curated a playlist that can help you start, which includes tracks like "Someone Like You" by Adele, "Paradise" by Coldplay, and "Flaws and All" by Beyoncé. Who knew Queen Bey could help make you feel less jittery?

But really, though, it can be whatever type of song that makes you feel more relaxed. In Megan Fox's case, she plays Britney Spears' bops whenever she feels nervous on a flight. "Even if you hit turbulence and you're like, 'I don't like how this feels,' I would throw on certain music that I just knew I wasn't gonna die to," she quipped in a "Kelly Clarkson Show" guest appearance. "Which, for me, it was Britney Spears. Like the archives from when I was young, so like the 'Oops' album... That's not the soundtrack to my death. So that always made me feel better."