Motion sickness: How to avoid it??
Motion sickness is a sickly feeling situation that occurs during travel. It is a group of symptoms including nausea, vomiting, cold sweat, headache, dizziness, and irritability. It makes your traveling and riding unpleasant. It occurs in cars, buses, trains, planes, boats, and rides. There is not any proper treatment for it although it can be avoided by some remedies and practices.
One of my cousins was suffering from motion sickness since her childhood. we searched a lot on it and did some experiments. So here are the results.
Motion sickness is common in children, pregnant women, older people, and migraine headache patients. According to Statista research about 29% of people more than 18 years of age experience motion sickness in Great Britain. So motion sickness is not a disease, don't worry too much about it.
Causes of motion sickness
The major cause is the conflicting information coming from different sensory organs of the body to the brain.
The eyes and inner ear both act as sensory organs for movement. When you travel, your inner ear sense movement but according to your eyes body is static. This conflict among messages leads to motion sickness.
How to avoid motion sickness
You can’t eliminate its symptoms completely but they can be avoided or reduced by following some remedies and tricks.
Select the right seat
Your position in the vehicle really matters. The front seat in the car, the seat over the wing on the plane, the room closest to the water level on the ship, seat near the window on the train are best for you if you feel motion sickness. These seats allow you to see the horizon and to experience less motion which helps you to reduce its symptoms.
Sit on the seat such that you face the forward direction of travel.
Select the right food
You should take the right food before and during travel to avoid motion sickness. Don’t take drinks, alcohol, spicy and fast foods. Instead of eating a stomach full, take simple food in small portions during the journey.
Take your meal 45–60 minutes before traveling.
Close your eyes to reduce motion sickness
If you don’t want to see the horizon or don’t have a chance, you should close your eyes and head down. It eliminates the cause of motion sickness as the brain receives the message only from the inner ear.
Use ginger
In scientific research, ginger is found to be very effective to reduce motion sickness by its aromatic, carminative, and absorbent properties. Eat a small piece of ginger half an hour before the start of the journey. You can also take ginger tea or some ginger products.
Acupressure
Acupressure or pericardium 6 is proven to be an effective trick to relieve nausea and other problems during traveling. It is a Chinese practice done by exerting pressure on some specific acupoints during the sensation of nausea.
You can also wear an acupressure wristband during travel to avoid motion sickness.
Improve your attitude
Prepare yourself before traveling and after taking the right seat, don’t say anything about your motion sickness. Avoid talking about your previous bad experiences and try to be positive. Our psychology affects our health a lot so be calm and say ‘I am well’, ‘I am well’. Yes, it works.
Stand up
There is no theory behind standing but it’s my own experience that standing on the bus or train can reduce nausea and vomiting, especially during travel in hilly areas. In most people symptoms starts at 8000 feet above sea level. So whenever nausea starts simply stand up and enjoy nature.
Medicines to treat motion sickness
There are two types of medicines you can take to treat it.
OTC medicines: It is better to use OTC medicines because they show fewer interactions and side effects and could be bought without a doctor’s prescription.
OTC drugs for motion sickness include antihistamines like dimenhydrinate, diphenhydramine, or meclizine. Take any such medicine 30–60 minutes before traveling. On a longer journey, you can take it every six hours.
These medicines are safe for both children and adults but they cause drowsiness so not recommended when you are traveling alone.
Prescription medicines: Scopolamine is one of the prescription medicine for motion sickness. It is available in two forms, pills, and patches. You can take a pill before traveling or apply a patch behind the ear. It should be taken only after a consultation with a doctor.
Promethazine is also a prescription drug to treat this problem.
Conclusion
Motion sickness is an undesirable change in our normal health during traveling that includes nausea, cold sweat, headache, etc.
It is not a big deal to worry about. It can be easily avoided by following some practices like sitting in the right seat where you experience less motion, taking the right food, by acupressure, eating ginger, and standing. Medicines like dimenhydrinate, diphenhydramine, meclizine, scopolamine, and promethazine are also available to treat motion sickness.
Now my cousin follows these tricks and she is very happy.
