I'm a Travel Writer Terrified of Flying-Here's the Sciencebacked Tool That Helped

"Yes, I'm admitting it in writing that I'm terrified of flying-and I do it for a living. So, naturally, I've tried just about everything, but only one thing has seemed to make a difference: learning how to source and read turbulence forecasts for each and every flight I take. I use sites like Turbli, which combines data from official weather and aviation agencies to predict the turbulence, wind, and thunderstorm activity along your flight route."

""Flight anxiety affects approximately 25 percent of travelers, representing a complex interplay between primitive fear responses and contemporary cognitive processing," Bryan Bruno, the medical director at Mid City TMS, a New York City-based medical center focused on treating depression and anxiety, told T+L. "When you use tools like Turbli to predict turbulence, you're engaging your prefrontal cortex rather than allowing your amygdala to dominate with fear responses. Knowledge transforms unpredictable threats into manageable variables.""

A career change from news reporting to travel writing in 2017 led to travel to 48 countries and documenting stories worldwide. Despite a dream job, persistent fear of flying remains. Learning to source and read turbulence forecasts for every flight proved most effective. Turbli aggregates official weather and aviation data to predict turbulence, wind, and thunderstorm activity along routes. Ignacio Gallego-Marcos, trained in engineering and fluid mechanics, developed Turbli to let passengers visualize information previously available only to pilots. Flight anxiety affects about 25 percent of travelers; using predictive tools engages the prefrontal cortex rather than the amygdala, converting unpredictable threats into manageable variables.

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