How To Manage Motion Sickness

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Motion or travel sickness is the general discomfort and nauseating feeling experienced when in a moving vehicle.

According to experts, “motion sickness is a mismatch of what your body and brain is experiencing”. Your inner ear is aware that you are in a moving vehicle but your brain isn’t – most likely because you can’t see the movement.

Symptoms of motion sickness.

Nausea

Sweating (even when the air conditioner is on full blast)

Vomiting

Dizziness

Headache

Weakness

 

While there is no way to completely get rid of motion sickness, there are ways to manage it;

Focusing on a fixed point

Since motion sickness can occur when your body senses you are in a moving car but your brain doesn’t, fixing your eyes on the road will be an effective way to manage it. That way, both your body and brain are aware that you are in a moving vehicle.

Sit in the passenger seat

Sitting in front is considered really helpful as you have direct view of the road and you can see all the curves coming up before the vehicle makes a sharp turn.

Sitting by the window is just as effective.

Pop those mints

Peppermints are widely known for calming an upset stomach and repressing nausea. Take mints for your journey and pop one when you start to feel uncomfortable

Over the counter drugs

There are prescription drugs sold to manage nausea. Drugs like Dramamine help with motion sickness – you may feel sleepy after taking it.

 

Ginger

If you generally prefer traditional medicine to new medicine, you can always take ginger along on your journey. They work really well in suppressing nausea. Any food or drink that contains ginger work just as well – ginger drinks, ginger mints and so on.

 

 

Like my brother, I also had to deal with motion sickness for a long time. My mother told me I would be able to manage it better when I was older and she was right. I still feel nauseated in a moving vehicle (especially when the driver is rough or the road is bumpy) but I haven’t thrown up in years.

Only two things help me when I’m on the move; listening to music and sleeping (though health experts advise against the latter). Any other activity makes me nauseated.