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How To Ease Travel Sickness This Summer
By Nigel West, Fri Dec 9th
Travel sickness, whether brought on when travelling by air, seaor car is a nightmare. If you are unprepared then the resultingmess and smell can affect other people, spreading almost like avirulent virus. On a plane or in the car the smell can take agesto disappear - not ideal if you are at the start of a touringholiday. Travel sickness and in particular car sickness is often thoughtto affect mostly children, however medical opinion estimatesthat 80% of the population suffer from motion sickness at somepoint in their lives. My daughter was fine until the age of 6,when we discovered that the delay between announcing feelingsick 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 the brain can’t match theinformation it is receiving from: 1) Inner ears, which sense inwhich directions you are moving 2) Eyes, which see whatdirection you are moving 3) Skin receptors, which detect whichparts of your body are touching the ground 4) Muscles and jointsensory receptors, which tell you if you are moving muscles andwhat position you are in
For example, if you are reading in a moving car, your inner earsand skin receptors are telling your brain that you are movingforward, but your eyes are on a stationary book and your musclereceptors reporting that you are sitting still. For some peoplethis is OK, but for others some form of motion sickness willstart to build up. Motion sickness can take the form of dizziness, fatigue, andnausea which may progress to vomiting. Fear of motion sicknesscan make these feelings a lot worse. So what can be done to avoid motion sickness? When I wasinvolved in rallying 15 years ago I was fine driving, butnavigating was a real problem. I loved it dearly but suffereddreadfully with motion sickness. It got so bad on one event thatI could hardly walk when I finally got out of the car. Whilst Iwas never actually sick, the only way I could stop the nauseawas not to eat from getting up in the morning to the event,which generally started in the early evening. I think you willagree this is a bit extreme! If you often suffer from motion sickness there are a few thingsto try to make a journey more comfortable. 1) Avoid heavy mealsfor two hours before the journey. Eat small amounts of somethingdry such as crackers, crisps or biscuits before the journey,don’t eat any dairy products and avoid salad and fruit as it canbe acidic. If possible don’t eat whilst on the trip. 2) Drinksmall amounts of non natural drinks. Don’t drink milk or anynatural juices such as orange juice and others with citric acid.Avoid alcohol. 3) Try anti motion sickness pills, either fromyou doctor or homeopath. 4) Acupressure bands work well for somepeople. 5) Studies have shown
ginger root can be effectiveagainst motion sickness. Ginger capsules are available or youcan try a dose of about 1/2 teaspoon of dry powdered ginger,which is equivalent to approximately 1/3 ounce of fresh gingerroot, which is roughly a 1/4-inch slice. 6) Avoid staring outthe window for long periods of time as this can create motionsickness. 7) Keep still and move gently. If possible stay wherethere is the least movement. 8) Don't read 9) Alternativeremedies such as EFT (or tapping), hypnosis or acupuncture mayhelp. There are also a few things you can do to reduce the sensationof motion sickness, even when it has started. 1) Move to thepoint of least movement. Try and sit in the centre of the planeor in the middle of the boat. On boats it often helps to liedown, although it might feel like the last thing you want to do.2) Sit facing forward. 3) Look at the distant scenery. 4) Getsome fresh air, but keep warm. 5) Avoid talking but try notthink about your motion sickness. 6) Move gently, don’t stand upor move suddenly. Sometimes the preventatives don't work, so, particularly withchildren in your nice clean car, it's worth being prepared.Having been car sick into my grandmother's hat at a young age,as a child I was used to travelling with a quite franklygrotesque pink potty. Whilst this would catch the offendingsubstance, it didn't contain it particularly well, meaninghaving to stop the car to remove the contents and smell. This wasn't too difficult in the 60s and 70s, but with so muchtraffic now it's not always easy or safe to do. Plastic shoppingbags offer little help. Designed to just about hold together forthe trip home, they have holes in them, which preventsuffocation but reduce the ability to hold liquid. Anotherfavourite, ice cream tubs work better than the pink potty, butrely on the child to get the lid on without spilling.Unfortunately they are wide but not very deep making spillage adistinct possibility. The best option is the sick bag, as usedby airlines and ferries for many years. Sick bags workbrilliantly. They are simple for children to use, they are deepso reduce spillage and the top can be rolled down, retaining thecontents and the smell. Some sick bags have a clip securing therolled down top and a flat bottom, meaning they can stand up onthe floor of the car, further reducing the risk of spillage. As companies fight to bring costs of air and ferry travel downsick bags are handed out almost on an as needed basis. The daysof accumulating a stock of sick bags from an air flight seem tobe over. About the author:Nigel West - having had car sick children and frustrated withnot being able to find sick bags in the shops, Nigel and hiswife set up Chuckie Bags, offering sick bags in small quantitiesto families with car sick children, and other sufferers ofmotion sickness, morning sickness and sudden nausea. Top qualitysick bags can be bought online at www.chuckiebags.com
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