Motion Sickness is common when you are on the roads of mountains. Everyone has their own tolerance level for mountain roads and some people like me are blessed with motion sickness. We do love travel but that doesn’t mean that we can’t get motion sick.
I was also one of those people who had motion sickness. But I figured out the ways to stop motion sickness. Therefore, I thought of writing and sharing my way of motion sickness treatment with you in this article.
Before going further, you should know about motion sickness and how you can analyze that you are facing motion sickness not any other disease.
What is motion sickness?
A common problem experienced by numerous people during traveling is motion sickness. It’s more observed in the mountains. The exact reason for this phenomenon is currently not fully known, but scientists say that it’s related to maintaining body balance.
According to Oxford Dictionary, “Motion sickness is nausea caused by motion, especially by travelling in a vehicle”
Human beings use eyes, ears, and feet to retain the body balance. Our inner ear deals with movement and balance as it is the seat of our vestibular system. If for some reason, there’s a mismatch in perception between two or more senses, motion sickness happens.
For instance, suppose you are traveling by car. Your eyes send the signal that you are going at a speed of 40 mph. Meanwhile, your ears send the signal that you are traversing downward from a mountain at a speed of 100 mph. In this case, there’s a huge mismatch in the perception of both the senses. This leads to motion sickness.
Another example of motion sickness can be while watching a movie in a theater. You are watching that a car has jumped off a cliff, your mind believes it. But you are in your seat, stationary, and your feet send the signal that you are at rest. Again, there’s a mismatch between the signals.
Quick facts on motion sickness
- People with a non-functional vestibular system do not experience motion sickness.
- Motion sickness and seasickness are the same things.
- Motion sickness might occur due to estrogen imbalance. This is the reason why women tend to experience motion sickness more than men.
- Several medications can also be a cause of motion sickness.
Symptoms of Motion Sickness:
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Sweating
- Drooling
- Breathlessness
- Drowsiness.
- Headache
- Malaise (not feeling well)
- Sweating
Remedies to stop Motion Sickness:
These are the best Motion Sickness Remedies:
1. Sit in the front seat:
Sitting in front can tremendously help you in curing motion sickness. If you are in the front seat, you have the option of looking forward and not just left or right. Besides this, when you are in the front, you can see what’s ahead of you and thus prepare your body for any unexpected turn in advance.
2. Don’t drink alcohol:
Alcohol is infamous not only for many accidents but also for messing up with the body pretty badly. If you are intoxicated and in a car, you tend to face motion sickness more. This is because your brain is prone to mismatch signals from various organs.
3. Avoid eating heavy food before commencing your journey:
This is the most basic rule that you might have heard from a lot of people. It is quite normal for your body to wobble while traveling. But traveling with a full stomach can make matters worse. But this doesn’t mean that you don’t eat at all. Eat, but half of your normal diet. You can keep fruits or other snacks with you to eat in between.
4. Restrict body movements:
If you are prone to motion sickness, restricting body movements is an efficient way to control it. The reason is the more your body moves, the more uneasy it gets. Following the theory stated above, the less the motion, the less are the chances for body signals to get mixed up. It will also be good if you have something solid to hold on to, like a handle or something.
5. Eat citrus fruits during travel:
Citrus fruit helps in stop vomiting and lowers the motion sickness.
6. Keep yourself distracted:
Distraction is yet another powerful strategy to keep yourself away from motion sickness. You can do plenty of things to keep yourself distracted. The number one thing you can do is talk with fellow travelers. You can also listen to music. But make sure that you don’t use earphones. The reason being the same intermixing of signals. Book reading is not suggested because it’s hard to focus on the pages on rough terrain.
7. Take in fresh air:
Fresh air works like magic for many things like tension, stress, anxiety, and even motion sickness. Fresh oxygen regulates the blood flow in and out of the brain. So you can roll down the windows of your car or if you are on a bus, you can sit on the window seat. Don’t feel shy to ask the person on the window seat for that seat.
8. Meditate, or fix your gaze on something:
Meditating is a quick fix to many life problems. It is the same in the case of motion sickness. You can close your eyes and take deep breaths. If you can’t meditate, fix your gaze on something. For instance, you can fix your gaze on the radio buttons of your car.
9. Chewing gum or any snack:
Chewing is also reported to have benefited in easing motion sickness. You can chew gum or any other lightweight snack. You can also chew dry fruits. As a plus, dry fruits are also anti-depressants, so chewing them will also remove any anxiety you have.
10. Avoid or limit Caffeine:
It is best to avoid or limit your intake of caffine as it may trigger motion sickness in some people.
11. Avomine, your best friend:
If you have tried all the remedies but still don’t feel at ease, take avomine. This tablet contains promethazine. Promethazine reduces nausea and calms the brain so you don’t have to throw up. Please note that the tablet is also a sedative and so you are bound to feel sleepy and thus miss the wonderful scenery outside.
12. Sour candies
Keep tamarind or orange candies handy whenever you are traveling by road for long hours. It helps in keeping nausea away.
NOTE: Consult your doctor before taking any medicines.
Medications to take before travelling
Avomine is surely your best friend, but it’s better if you keep it for emergency use only. There are a number of medications that you can take before commencing on the journey. This way you will enjoy your travel without falling sick.
- Cyclizine: Not recommended for children aged below 6. It can be taken 30 minutes prior to the travel. It’s one of the most effective medicines out there. The effect of this medicine stays for 6-8 hours. The notable side effects include dry mouth, nausea, constipation, and drowsiness.
- Meclizine: Meclizine is histamine that is most effective if taken 1 hour prior to travel. It is not suited for children under 12. The main side effects are drowsiness and dry mouth.
- Scopolamine: Scopolamine commonly known as Devil’s Drug, is the most popular medicine prescribed by doctors for treating motion sickness. It is administered in the form of a patch 6-8 hours before the travel. Its side effects are drowsiness, dry mouth, and dizziness.
NOTE: Do consult your doctor before taking any medicines.
Read More, Essential Travel Medicine Kit Checklist for First Aid
These are the best ways to stop motion sickness. You can follow all of them and avoid motion sickness or nausea away. I hope, this list will help you as it helped me.
