Stress and how it effects your flying
What is stress?
Stress is a bodily response to a stimulus that disturbs or interferes with the ’normal’ physiological equilibrium of a person and, in the context of aviation, refers to a state of physical, mental, or emotional strain due to some external or internal stimulus. Causes of stress (stressors) can be major life events such as a death in the family or a new job, ongoing aggravations such as a chronic illness or an inflexible work schedule, or the annoyances of daily life, such as traffic jams, work issues or family pressures.
A recent study on UK General aviation pilots suggest that many of us are likely to downplay the effects of stress on flight safety, a lot of this can be due to personal pride and a mentality of “it’ll all be fine”. If you recognise this behaviour in yourself, whether it be in the prep for a flight or during one, it may be a good time (if safe to do so) to take a minute. Taking a deliberate step to reset your brain can break the link in the chain that leads to an accident or incident, as Ryan Motte eloquently describes in this article.
When we encounter a stressor, our body creates a complex reaction that begins with a signal from the brain to the autonomic nervous system which controls involuntary body functions such as breathing, heart rate and blood pressure. The signal from the brain also triggers the release of hormones (primarily adrenaline from the adrenal glands) into the bloodstream to prepare the body to cope with a perceived danger. In response to the brain’s signal, the breathing rate increases to allow the body to take in more oxygen, the heart rate increases, blood pressure rises, and some blood vessels narrow, directing blood to the muscles and brain and away from the skin and other organs not involved in the response to the perceived danger.
Stress can be difficult to define. It is not an illness, but it can hugely affect your health. It can also be hard to recognise, especially in yourself. Stress can affect all aspects of your life, including your emotions, behaviours, thinking ability, and physical health. No part of the body is immune. However, because people handle stress differently, symptoms of stress can vary from person to person.
Some of the symptoms of stress can be seen in the following diagram. We may recognise these in our ourselves or others that are reacting to stressors.
Long term stress can be damaging to our bodies. If our stress response is activated repeatedly, or it persists over time, the effects can result in wear and tear on the body and can cause us to feel permanently in a state of ‘fight or flight’. Rather than helping us push through the short-term issue, this pressure can make us feel overwhelmed or unable to cope.
Looking at more recent events, the COVID-19 pandemic has also had a large part to play for many of us in causing unusual levels of stress. Between lockdowns, financial implications, and concern for our personal health and that of our loved ones, stress levels have risen significantly across the world. Those who may have found flying a relief and an opportunity to de-stress, were then unable to do for many months. This in turn also causes skill fade which can make retuning to flying daunting, and ultimately cause even more stress!
How does stress affect our flying?
Psychologists Robert Yerkes and John Dodson developed a first version of a pressure performance curve back in 1908. They used it to show the relationship between arousal (pressure) and performance (the Yerkes-Dodson Law).
We do not perform well with insufficient pressure and almost counterintuitively, the resultant tedium can be very stressful. However, some pressure when we are about to undertake a task such as going flying or undertaking a flying lesson or test can be good because at the point of stretch, our body’s stress response starts to release hormones which help us perform at our best. We think more clearly, our vision is sharper and our hearing more acute. Who has ever felt nervous before a flying test? The pressure of the test is raising our preparedness to deal with the short-term stress through the 'fight-or-flight' response. However, people should not be stretched all the time though, that would be exhausting and no-one can perform at their peak all day long, so try not to schedule too many tests or other stressful activities close together!
When pressure is too high, performance decreases. The effects of stress take over, fatigue sets in and errors are made. Stress symptoms will begin to develop. Frustration, anxiety, and poor concentration affect our flying abilities and our performance begins to plummet. When pressure is very high and sustained, we might start to experience exhaustion from chronic stress. Our body perpetually draws on its survival mechanisms as it believes it is in physical danger and the ‘fight or flight’ response is maintained for too long. Adrenaline levels are high and we have little chance of focussing on complex mental tasks or making good decisions.
Managing stress
To reduce and manage your stress, you may want to consider the following points:
1. It’s important to understand your stress. What is causing it? Is it avoidable? How can it be managed? These are all important questions to ask yourself to begin your stress reduction journey.
2. Is your lifestyle contributing towards your stress? If you’re not getting enough sleep, fresh air, or social interaction, consider adjusting your lifestyle to alleviate pressure on yourself. You may also wish to consider whether you can improve your diet and drinking habits if appropriate.
3. Are there any changes to your work or home environment that could help reduce stress? Daily life is generally hard for many of us but try to always make time to take short breaks and try not to overload yourself by instantly agreeing to take on new tasks and responsibilities.
4. Relax! Although it sounds obvious, taking some time out to relax and do what you enjoy is often one of the first things we tend to sacrifice. Whether you’ve got 10 minutes or a full day free in your timetable, allow yourself a little you time.
Mindfulness is another technique that may help and there are various online resources available that can guide you. It is the idea of learning how to be fully present and engaged in the moment, aware of your thoughts and feelings without distraction or judgment. Mindfulness can have numerous benefits, including decreased stress and sadness, to increased levels of focus and happiness. Mindfulness doesn’t eliminate stress or other difficulties. Instead, by becoming aware of unpleasant thoughts and emotions that arise because of challenging situations, we have more choice in how to handle them in the moment and a better chance of reacting calmly and empathetically when faced with stress or challenges.
IMSAFE
Use of the ‘IMSAFE’ mnemonic is quite common during pre flight planning as a ‘fit to fly’ check for pilots on the day. However, many people address the ‘S’ = STRESS question with a ‘no I’m not stressed’ or similar answer. In reality, this is perhaps unrealistic or even a little dismissive. Recognising we all experience a certain amount of stress, all of the time due to daily life would perhaps be more appropriate. The poster from the New Zealand CAA below encourages us to consider ‘STRESS: Managing Stress well at home and work’ which may be a better, more realistic, way of assessing our fitness for flight with regard to Stress.
The ‘Mission Bubble’
Pilots may also wish to consider the concept of the ‘Mission Bubble’. This is a state of mind and period of time when you make a conscious pre-flight decision to ‘go into the bubble’ and turn phones off, put aside distractions, avoid interruptions other than emergencies and you focus as much as possible on the flying task at hand. This starts in the preparation phase and continues through the planning and flying until you ‘exit the bubble’ when everything is done and completed post flight and you can turn your phone notifications back on, let your mind roam back to wider life issues and so on.. It may also be helpful to acknowledge that long term stressors such as an ailing relative or pressure at work may not change or be solved in the next hour or so when you are flying, so a conscious decision to try and ‘switch off’ from them for a short time whilst you are flying may be helpful.
What if I am feeling overwhelmed?
In all cases, where individuals are feeling low, anxious, worried, or even tearful, it is not something to be embarrassed about and those feelings should not be ignored. It is OK to not feel OK, and it is important for individuals to be able to and share those feelings with someone and to ask for the help and support that is needed. Most importantly, those feelings are not likely to improve with the added pressures that flying bring, so if you’re not feeling great, it might be worth taking a day out to reset and re-evaluate.
Help and support are available and pilots experiencing a dip in health and wellbeing should speak with their GP, AME, family, friends, or colleagues. By receiving advice and help early, it might mean that individuals can safely continue to fly, or if they can't, then they will get back to flying quicker in the long run.
Further reading:
https://skybrary.aero/articles/stress
https://www.aviation.govt.nz/assets/publications/posters/im-safe-to-fly.pdf
https://delphis.org.uk/peak-performance/stress-and-the-pressure-performance-curve/