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Motion Sickness Tips

If you are familiar with the travel-related queasy, spinning, swaying feeling, you probably experience motion sickness. Motion sickness (medically known as kinetosis) is a common inner ear disturbance that is caused by continuous motion and changes in your body's sense of equilibrium. These are some ways to help lessen motion sickness symptoms.

  1. Watch What You Eat, Drink and Smell

    • Avoid drinking alcohol for about 24 hours before you take your trip. In addition, prior to and during your trip, avoid eating foods that give you a stomachache or make you feel uncomfortably full. Eating heavy, spicy or fatty foods may especially aggravate motion sickness. Do not avoid eating altogether. Traveling on an empty stomach may make nausea worse. Strong odors may also contribute to motion sickness, so try to avoid them.

    Feel Less Motion

    • If your eyes see the same motion that your ears and body feel, you are less likely to feel sick, according to MedicineNet.com. To help yourself feel less motion, take these precautions:
      -If you are in a car, sit in the front seat and watch distant scenery. Do not read a book or sit facing backward.
      -If you are in a plane, ride in a seat next to a wing, where you are likely to feel less motion. Also, do not get up to walk around the plane.
      -If you are on a boat, go up on the deck to watch the horizon or a fixed point. If you are on a cruise ship, lower-level cabins near the middle of the ship usually experience less motion than cabins on the higher and outer portions of the ship.

    Stay Cool and Relaxed

    • Try to get as much fresh air as possible by opening up a vent in a car or staying outside on the deck of a boat. Also take deep, slow breaths of the fresh air and do not spend too much time worrying in advance about experiencing motion sickness. Another way to stay relaxed is to avoid other sick people and keep from having conversations with other people about motion sickness. (The power of suggestion may make symptoms feel worse.)

    Take Medication

    • Over-the-counter antihistamines like Dramamine and Benadryl help counteract motion sickness. However, they do take a bit of time to absorb and they likely will cause drowsiness. As of July 2009, most "daytime," nondrowsy allergy medications like Claritin have not been shown to help reduce motion sickness. If your motion sickness get bad enough, though, maybe falling asleep is not the worst option.

    Ginger and Wristbands

    • While ginger root capsules and pressure-point wristbands are not medically proven motion sickness remedies, they generally are not harmful and may prove to be helpful for you.

    Talk to a Doctor

    • If you experience chronic motion sickness, you may also want to discuss it with your doctor. He may offer additional recommendations. If your motion sickness is debilitating, your doctor also may be able to prescribe a medication such as a scopolamine patch (Transderm-Scop) before you take your trip. Be aware that Transderm-Scop has side effects like blurred vision and drowsiness.

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