Kava and travel stress
· 5 min read
A trip that was meant to be an escape from everyday life sometimes starts with a racing heart in the check-in queue. Pre-travel tension is common enough to have its own body of scientific literature: fear of flying, or aviophobia, affects anywhere from a few percent to as much as forty percent of the population in Western countries, according to various estimates, depending on the definition used and how it is measured. Some people experience it as mild nervousness, while others give up flying altogether or fly only when they have no other choice.
Where the fear of flying comes from
Researchers describe fear of flying as a varied phenomenon, ranging from mild nervousness to a fully developed specific phobia or panic disorder. Symptoms include a racing heart, muscle tension, sweating, breathlessness, nausea and dizziness, all typical of the body's general stress response. Interestingly, long-term observation of passengers shows that the level of flight anxiety in the population is not constant over time: a study of Norwegian air passengers comparing data from 1986 and 2015 found that, despite methodological differences, people today report significantly less fear of flying than three decades ago, even though the phenomenon still affects a sizeable share of the population, more often women than men. The strongest anxiety is triggered by turbulence, unfamiliar engine noises and associations with the threat of terrorism.
The classic ways of coping with this tension are alcohol or sedatives taken on an as-needed basis before a flight. Both strategies have clear drawbacks: alcohol, combined with low cabin pressure and dehydration, deepens fatigue and concentration problems, while benzodiazepines, though effective, carry a risk of excessive sedation and dependence with frequent use. This is one reason some people look for alternatives that act more gently on the nervous system without dulling attention.
What is known about kava in the context of anxiety
Kava, a drink made from the root of Piper methysticum, has long attracted scientific interest precisely because of its supposed anti-anxiety effect. The first systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials, published in 2000 in the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, covered randomised, placebo-controlled trials using standardised kava extracts. The authors' conclusions were cautious: kava proved more effective than placebo at reducing anxiety symptoms as measured by the Hamilton scale, but the effect size was small and the evidence was based on relatively small samples. In other words, the effect is real but not spectacular, and it concerns short-term, occasional use of standardised preparations rather than a home-brewed infusion drunk in any quantity.
The mechanism thought to explain this effect involves the GABA system, the brain's main inhibitory neurotransmitter system, which is also targeted by anti-anxiety medications from the benzodiazepine class. This is still an active area of research, and newer imaging studies are only beginning to show exactly how kavalactones affect GABA activity in the cerebral cortex of people with anxiety disorders. You can read more about how kavalactones work in a separate article on kava.fyi, and about the GABA system itself in the context of kava in kava and GABA.
New surroundings and other sources of travel tension
The flight itself is only one part of travel stress. Staying in an unfamiliar country, the language barrier, different cultural norms or unusual administrative formalities also create psychological strain, although this is harder to measure than fear of flying and is less often the subject of dedicated clinical research. Similarly, health worries linked to a trip, for example to tropical countries, fall into the broader category of anticipatory stress, meaning tension that arises before the event itself, simply from expecting it.
In this context it is worth staying cautious about claims that have no direct basis in research: there are no scientific publications testing kava specifically in relation to flying, staying abroad or travel vaccinations. What can be said based on the available data is that kava shows a general anti-anxiety effect with short-term use, and its supporters are happy to reach for it precisely in situations of heightened tension, including those linked to travel.
What kava does not do
Kava is not a cure for flight phobia or anxiety disorders, and it does not replace cognitive behavioural therapy, which remains the treatment with the best-documented effectiveness for aviophobia. It should also not be combined with alcohol or with medications metabolised by the liver, including sedatives and antidepressants: both combinations place a load on the same organ and can increase the risk of adverse effects. If fear of travel is strong enough to limit everyday functioning, it is worth consulting a specialist rather than looking for a solution solely in plant supplements. It is also worth remembering that the available studies concern standardised pharmaceutical extracts rather than a traditionally brewed infusion, so applying the results directly to a cup drunk in an airport departure lounge calls for caution.
It is also worth bearing the legal context in mind: in Poland, kava is classified as a designer substance and is banned for sale as a food under a regulation of the Ministry of Health; in Germany it is available only on prescription; and in the European Union it formally has no novel food status. Anyone planning to travel with kava, or to travel in order to buy it, should take this into account before packing it in their luggage.
Mindful relaxation instead of automatically reaching for a substance
Whether you reach for kava or another calming method, the change of habit itself, that is, replacing another drink at the hotel bar with something that does not cloud mental clarity, fits into the broader trend of a mindful approach to alcohol known as sober curious. If this phenomenon interests you more broadly, read our piece on how kava compares with classic intoxicants: kava as an alternative to alcohol. Before you set off with kava on a trip, though, also check the basics of preparing the infusion, because the way it is brewed has a real effect on whether you feel anything at all: how to prepare kava.