Ever felt some pain or temporary blockage in your ears just as the plane was about to take off or land and wondered why or what it is? People who experience this are said to have aeroplane ear. It is caused by unequal pressures on both sides of the ear as the plane ascends or descends. While some people are more prone to experiencing this, others are not. If you do experience it, there are ways through which you can prevent a re-currence.

Take a deep breadth…

First, take a deep breadth and then pinch your nose and try to breathe out while your mouth is closed. In essence, no air is being expelled. The air instead is sent to the eustachian tube. You may feel something in your ear just before you are free of the problem. That signals the air being pushed into your middle ear. This proces might have to be repeated at different times during the trip (depending on when you feel discomfort).

Swallow

When your ears start to react from the mounting pressures as a result of ascent or descent, swallow, yawn or begin to chew. These actions make the air more likely to move up to the eushtachian tube. If you have any kids with you, make them do same or give them a feeding bottle or dummy so they can swallow (if they can’t do so on their own).

Don’t sleep

So that you are not caught unawares, do not sleep, stay alert and prepared especially for the time when the plane makes to land. If avoiding sleep is too much to ask, you could ask the flight attendants to wake you just before landing. Just ensure that you are awake. It is only when you are awake that the above options can be performed and the effect of the mounting preasures prevented.

If your aeroplane ear is more severe to the point where the above preventive methods are futile, then we recommend you go for more advanced options to stop it in its tracks.

Stay with us as we will cover that in the next blog post.

Stay healthy!

Source: www.healthcredo.com