Why does it stick its ears on the plane?

Surely, everyone who flew by air experienced very unpleasant sensations of ear congestion, sometimes they can be accompanied by severe pain and extremely uncomfortable sensations, which are not so easy to get rid of.

The physiology of each person has its own characteristics and, if one does not notice anything, the other may become noticeably unwell. Unfortunately, constantly avoiding flying is not the best idea, because today it is one of the main ways of moving around the world, so what to do?

To begin with, it will be useful to figure out the reason why your ears are lagging on the plane. Basically, this is due to a sharp change in the level of pressure in the atmosphere: the internal pressure in the human body simply does not have time to reorganize!

In a normal state, the pressure in the tympanic cavity (inside the ear) should fully correspond to the atmospheric level. When the plane begins to climb sharply, then there is a jump in atmospheric pressure - it drops sharply downward, as a result of which the same difference is formed, which begins to press on one of the sides of the eardrum.

As a minimum, we begin to feel unpleasant stuffiness in the ear, and, as a maximum, severe pains in the ears and head.

What to do? To equalize the level of pressure, in most cases, it is enough to make a few swallowing movements with the nasopharynx or just open your mouth wide, as if you are about to yawn.

In this case, the lumen of the auditory tube, which connects the nasopharynx with the middle ear, increases, and the unpleasant sensations disappear. But it is worth noting that it is not always as easy to equalize the width of this hole as we would like: no matter how you “open your mouth,” the congestion remains or even intensifies.

Why? The reason may be some kind of inflammatory process in the ear or nose, accumulated mucus and increased edema automatically narrow the auditory canal or block it altogether, which makes it impossible to restore pressure. Sometimes the cause of such a situation can be an innate physiological feature, which cannot be dealt with with simple methods, however, this is extremely rare.

What to do?

If you suffer from a severe runny nose or have an inflammatory process in your ears, then experts recommend refusing to fly, because due to your own malaise, you can worsen your condition even more.

Even such consequences as hemorrhage into the tympanic cavity up to rupture of the tympanic membrane cannot be ruled out. But let's not talk about the sad, what to do if it is not possible to avoid the flight, because such a situation is quite possible?

In such cases, before the flight, it is imperative to use vasoconstrictors, for example, ordinary nose drops: they will reduce swelling and relieve the nose of mucus, which will automatically increase the patency of the auditory tube, and, therefore, will contribute to the rapid normalization of pressure.

According to experts, most of all the ears get blocked during takeoff and landing, so if you know that blocked ears are your sore spot, try not to sleep during this period. If the flight is long, ask the stewardess to wake you up before boarding.

In addition, prepare for the flight in advance: take with you a small anatomical pillow that will allow you to keep your head in a comfortable position throughout the flight.

During the flight, it is better to take off your shoes and periodically stretch the lower part of the limbs so that the blood does not stagnate and circulates better. Also, during the flight, do not forget to drink water and juices more often, but it is better to refuse carbonated drinks.

Do not forget about simple, but very effective methods: make swallowing or chewing movements, open your mouth wide. By the way, for this purpose, stewardesses usually distribute lollipops to passengers on board, however, this is not always the case, so it is better to stock up on them yourself.

If you are flying with your child and he suffers from the same problem, give him a bottle of water or juice during takeoff and landing. Another good tip is to try blowing out your ears. To do this, you need to close your mouth and hold your nose with your hand, and then try to exhale the air vigorously. In this state, excessive pressure is created inside the larynx, which "clears" the ears, relieving them of plugs.

If, even after all the above tips, the congestion does not go away, but only intensifies and is accompanied by a headache, then it may be worth drinking some vasodilator drug, for example, no-shpu.

By the way, in foreign pharmacies and online stores you can buy special earplugs, which are designed specifically to adjust the pressure in the ears.

If the congestion has not gone away even the next day after the flight, then you should probably seek help from an ENT doctor who can assess the patency of your auditory tube and nasal cavity.