Travel sickness, whether brought on when travelling by air, sea or car is a nightmare. If you are unprepared then
resulting mess and smell can affect other people, spreading almost like a virulent virus. On a plane or in car smell can take ages to disappear - not ideal if you are at start of a touring holiday.Travel sickness and in particular car sickness is often thought to affect mostly children, however medical opinion estimates that 80% of population suffer from motion sickness at some point in their lives. My daughter was fine until age of 6, when we discovered that delay between announcing feeling sick and actually vomiting is so small as to be insignificant. Now 10, she only reads on a motorway or dual carriageway.
Motion sickness occurs when brain can’t match information it is receiving from: 1) Inner ears, which sense in which directions you are moving 2) Eyes, which see what direction you are moving 3) Skin receptors, which detect which parts of your body are touching ground 4) Muscles and joint sensory receptors, which tell you if you are moving muscles and what position you are in
For example, if you are reading in a moving car, your inner ears and skin receptors are telling your brain that you are moving forward, but your eyes are on a stationary book and your muscle receptors reporting that you are sitting still. For some people this is OK, but for others some form of motion sickness will start to build up.
Motion sickness can take form of dizziness, fatigue, and nausea which may progress to vomiting. Fear of motion sickness can make these feelings a lot worse.
So what can be done to avoid motion sickness? When I was involved in rallying 15 years ago I was fine driving, but navigating was a real problem. I loved it dearly but suffered dreadfully with motion sickness. It got so bad on one event that I could hardly walk when I finally got out of car. Whilst I was never actually sick, only way I could stop nausea was not to eat from getting up in morning to event, which generally started in early evening. I think you will agree this is a bit extreme!
If you often suffer from motion sickness there are a few things to try to make a journey more comfortable. 1) Avoid heavy meals for two hours before journey. Eat small amounts of something dry such as crackers, crisps or biscuits before journey, don’t eat any dairy products and avoid salad and fruit as it can be acidic. If possible don’t eat whilst on trip. 2) Drink small amounts of non natural drinks. Don’t drink milk or any natural juices such as orange juice and others with citric acid. Avoid alcohol. 3) Try anti motion sickness pills, either from you doctor or homeopath. 4) Acupressure bands work well for some people. 5) Studies have shown ginger root can be effective against motion sickness. Ginger capsules are available or you can try a dose of about 1/2 teaspoon of dry powdered ginger, which is equivalent to approximately 1/3 ounce of fresh ginger root, which is roughly a 1/4-inch slice. 6) Avoid staring out window for long periods of time as this can create motion sickness. 7) Keep still and move gently. If possible stay where there is least movement. 8) Don't read 9) Alternative remedies such as EFT (or tapping), hypnosis or acupuncture may help.
