What causes a fear of heights? - A Week in Science

This week:
Why are some people afraid of heights and others aren’t? This week we explore this phobia

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Want to inject more science in your life?

[kashalethebear]

Best way to describe fear of heights - loss of control. Feeling like the laws of physics will fail and you will fall no matter what (even fall upwards to the sky). Also my balance shuts off. If I try to walk across a bridge, I physically get dizzy and fall over and just crawl to the other side.

[goldmouth]

I am so afraid of heights that It restricts me from going places and having fun in life...like any stadiums, arenas, graduations, in huge audatoriums, big cruise boats, anything thats high...I feel like I am going to literally pass out

[Nathan]

Fear of heights is actually a good survival instinct. I will never ever be that guy who falls down hundreds of feet from a cliff's edge, while taking a selfie.

[neddyladdy]

It is not the height that I fear, but the dirty great splat at the bottom.

[isaactheguy]

I'm not afraid of heights, I'm afraid of the

[wisecracker]

My ancestors came from very mountainous countries. My full-blooded Norwegian grandfather couldn't stand to climb a ladder. I've had a fear of heights my entire life. I would have loved to do downhill skiing but never could because of my phobia. Now I'm a senior citizen, and if anything, my fear of heights has gotten worse, not better, leading to yet more restriction of activities, unfortunately.

[ItsSpiktz]

When I was little (about 8) I was on a roller coaster at my county fair with my sister and my seat belt was undoing and then it came completely off and I was slipping off my sister seen and held onto me plus after that I was told a story of a kid who got on another roller coaster in the same fair a few years back who fell and died. For me it’s not really a fear of heights but the fear of falling to my death.

[nonamesite]

I realized this summer that I have a fear of heights. I must have developed it last year. This is still new to me

[lacimarie]

I used to not have a fear or heights, but after I almost fell of off a roller coaster that went 150ft in the air due to a loose restraint, but ever since I have a had a huge fear of them. I still like some roller coasters that are closed in and I can't fall out of, but I can't climb a ten-foot ladder lol.

[rhianonmorris]

I have a hard time taking any sort of stairs. I get anxious even on the second storey of a building. any higher and I'm nearly petrified. elevators, escalators, stairs, they all scare me. I can't even get close to the windows on the third storey of a building. but roller coasters or planes? no problem.

[Andrethemodel]

Today I tried to go skydiving with friends something about looking out the plane window made me so sick I’m now regretting it but I also listened to my body

[petergresh]

I'm so terrified of heights one time I was in Boy scouts and we went to New York I literally had someone hold my hand when we went to the top of the Empire State building I wouldn't even get out of the elevator I was so petrified I was so scared to look up at the buildings when we were exploring

[lulu-kzgf]

I'm afraid of a certain kind of heights, I can climb mountains and go on planes but when it comes to manmade things on the ground that are high up like buildings and giant swings but then again I love zip lines so I don't even really understand my fear because it's extremely subjective.

[isimpforcoda]

I’m so scared of heights that I have dreams of being on the third floor of my school and I always try to keep close to the windows but it feels like the buildings rotating

[alonelylittleflea]

I have a fear of heights and I went to a rock climbing place. I couldn’t make it to the top
And had to CLIMB DOWN because I dont trust the harness, there was a 4 YEAR OLD (I’m 12) who was climbing to the top and going down

[TheMarshmallowMushroom]

The most intense bout of fear I remember having about heights was in 4th grade (I'm in between 9th and 10th now but I can still remember it clearly). At my elementary school, we had a square spiraling staircase at the entrance of the school. Even though it only went up one floor, it felt longer. One day nearing our graduation, we had to do an "egg drop challenge" where we would drop eggs (encased in protective contraptions) and see whether they cracked or not. We were working in teams, and I wasn't the one assigned to drop it, but I remember the fear gripping me as I looked down the staircase. Everyone was standing up, but I felt my legs turn to jelly as I slid down into a sit and held onto the railing for dear life while everyone was talking and laughing around me. I don't think I'll ever forget that.

[Solofemaletravelexplorer]

I like my fear of heights, that’s why I’m still here watching this 🤪😂

[bonniebelle]

*video ends, climbs ladder like a mantis*

[CedarbeansGaming]

my fear of heights stems from some stupid shit that my brain made up, and its stupid, but I cant talk about it. It not only upsets me to be up high, but to look up at a point of height. When I look up at a point, I put myself there, and it brings back the memories of my previous made up ideas. Its terrifying and I don't like it.

[inkay]

I can't even take an elevator (not glass, not outside the building, not in a tall building) without cringing and having to hold onto something. Even school buses trigger the phobia.