Motion sickness / travel / sea sickness

What is motion sickness?

Symptoms of motion sickness

Prevention / treatment / remedies for motion sickness

References

What is motion sickness?

Motion sickness (travel sickness, kinetosis, sea sickness, air sickness, car sick) is when you feel sick if you travel by boat, ship, car, air or train, or if your body is subjected to other types of movement. After the movement begins, it can take from a few seconds up to many minutes before the nausea starts. Some people are more susceptible to motion sickness than others.

The conventional thinking is that motion sickness is caused by a conflict between your senses. Your vestibular system (a fluid-filled canal in your inner ear that controls your sense of balance) tells your brain that your body is moving, while your eyes, looking at your seat, cabin etc, tell your brain that you are not moving.

However Thomas Stoffregen (1) argues that the problem does not arise in the inner ear, but rather in a disturbance in the body’s system for maintaining posture. He argues that people become nauseated in situations where they have not yet learned strategies to maintain a stable posture.

Looking down into your lap to consult a map or trying to read a book while a passenger in a car can bring on motion sickness.

About one third of people are susceptible to motion sickness even in mild circumstances such as being on a boat in calm water. Two thirds of people are susceptible in more severe conditions.

Sudden jerky movements are worse for motion sickness than slow smooth movements.

After a couple of days on a boat or ship, most people get their "sea legs" and the problem disappears.

Symptoms of motion sickness

• Nausea.
• Dizziness or vertigo.
• Fatigue or drowsiness.
• Headache.
• In severe cases if the movement continues, sweating, rapid and shallow breathing, vomiting, and pale skin. Vomiting does not relieve the nausea, as it would with other sickness.

Prevention / treatment / remedies for motion sickness

Orientation

• Try to find a place where you can see the horizon. Sit facing the direction in which you are moving. One of the most helpful things you can do is provide a reference for your eyes that relates to the movement your body is feeling.
• If you start to feel queasy, stand up and look ahead at the horizon. If you are able to steer a car or boat yourself this helps greatly. The worst thing you can do is sit or lie down and stare at something inside the cabin or car. To repeat, look at the horizon or look outside the vehicle.
• At night, or if there are no windows, close your eyes or take a nap. This helps resolve the conflict between the eyes and the inner ear, and takes your mind off the sickness.
• Avoid reading, writing, or looking down.
• Try to choose a position with the least motion. When you fly, request a seat near the wings. In a ship, book a cabin in the middle. If you are below deck or in an enclosed cabin, try to spend as much time as possible on deck. In a train, sit by a window, facing the direction of travel. In a car, sit in a front seat, and open the window if possible.
• If you are in a boat it is best to keep the boat moving, rather than stopping and rolling with the waves.

Food & drink

• Chewing helps, especially chewing gum.
• Ginger helps. Chew a piece of raw ginger, crystallised ginger or sip ginger tea.
• Avoid large meals and greasy, oily foods before and while travelling. You don't want to be rolling and moving with a full stomach of part-digested food. Rather than a large meal of cooked, greasy or spicy food (bacon and eggs, sausages, pancakes and orange juice etc) have a lighter meal of fruits, breads and other foods that you know you can digest easily.
• Do not avoid eating. Travelling on an empty stomach is almost as bad as being over-full or eating the wrong types of food. It is best to have a small meal of easily digestible food at your normal mealtimes.
• Drink plenty of water before and during the trip. Even partial dehydration lowers your body's resistance to the stress caused by movement.
• Avoid alcohol. Do not drink alcoholic beverages for several hours before or during the trip. It dehydrates the body, and increases the chances of a hangover and feeling sick.
• Avoid caffeine, as this can dehydrate you and make you feel worse. The gas in fizzy drinks does not help either.

Environment & other suggestions

• Avoid traffic fumes, direct sunlight, and getting too hot.
• Avoid enclosed spaces. Open the window, or try to sit in a cool spot in the open air.
• If someone else in your party is sea sick, get away from them at once! Many of us do well until someone else feels nauseous, then we have a sympathetic reaction and succumb as well. The smell, sound and sight trigger the same response in us.
• Keep busy, especially on a boat where you may have to trim the sails etc. However, try not to move your head too much, as head movement can increase motion sickness.
• Get plenty of rest before travelling.
• Anxiety and stress can contribute to the problem.
• Immerse your feet in ice water. This helps some people.
• Sleep on your back. This seems to be the most stable position, and supports the stomach.
• Try an acupressure wrist band. It applies pressure to a particular point on your wrist and can prevent the feeling of nausea.
• Remedies and experience contributed by visitors to Grow Youthful.

References

1. Thomas Stoffregen, Director, School of Kinesiology, University of Minnesota. September 2013.