10 tips to reduce motion sickness
Motion sickness affects a large part of the population. It is often linked to an internal ear problem, which causes a headache, vomiting, nausea, hyperventilation, and hypersalivation when the affected person takes means of transport such as the car, plane or the train. Motion-sickness affects people of all ages and can become truly disabling, or even make any trip an insurmountable event. But do not worry, reducing motion-sickness is possible!
Here are our 10 tips for reducing motion-sickness, while trying to avoid taking drugs as much as possible. Indeed, nothing better than the natural remedies and remedies of grandmother when they are effective! Our tips are natural and work if they are well applied. Choose the ones that suit you best, and for some, you can even combine them! Let’s go! We say thank you who?
1. Take control of the situation
For some people with motion sickness, the trigger is not being behind the wheel. So to remedy this, choosing to drive yourself can be a good alternative. In fact, the driver of a vehicle is less likely to suffer from motion problem because his brain is busy with the task of driving and paying attention to his environment while analyzing it.
However, if you do not have the opportunity to drive for any reason, sitting in the front of the car or coach, for example, can help you fight the symptoms of motion-sickness such as nausea or pain of head. If you are forced to be in the back of the vehicle, try every possible way to find distractions such as conversation, a video game or music. If possible, open a window to enjoy the fresh air that will help you feel better.
2. Choosing the right seat
To reduce motion problems, choosing a seat is also important. Indeed, the place you have inside a vehicle will necessarily affect the sensations you experience during the trip, and could thus trigger the symptoms of motion sickness or repel. The most comfortable seats for you will be those where you will feel the least movement, physically or visually.
We advise you to favor the places far from the portholes in the planes. By boat, the cabins located towards the center of the boat and at a low level make it less possible to feel the waves. By car finally, it is a little more difficult to escape the movement but the middle place at the front (if there is one) or the middle back is preferred as you will be further away from the sides and therefore movements of the landscape perceptible through the windows.
3. Reduce food consumption
Motion sickness often causes digestive discomfort and nausea. It is therefore important to avoid overeating before taking a means of transport, to minimize the unpleasant sensations such as nausea. Generally, one avoids consuming heavy foods or dairy products that may be more difficult to digest. One avoids leaving one’s stomach empty as well: it is a question of eating something digestible and light. And if you’re not hungry, do not force yourself!
Finally, avoid eating during the journey (that is while the vehicle is moving) to limit the damage! We eat before and after, even during stops if there are any. If, however, one is obliged to eat during the journey (for example long-haul flights), heavy foods, foods that are not used to eating and anything that is excessively sweet or salty are forbidden. Starchy foods in small quantities, water, and a dessert could do the trick for example. Reducing motion sickness is also paying attention to your plate!
4. Your words have an effect on your condition
Our words have more power than we think. Indeed, a study proves that “verbal placebos” exist. To say that one will not have the motion sickness can indeed help to avoid it. Expressing it out loud can make our brains believe it, and make it happen. To reduce motion sickness, therefore, you can talk to yourself by saying “I will not be sick this time” or talking to other people.
Yes, it can be hard to believe, but our words have a real impact on our thinking but also on our body. That’s why we are often told to turn our tongue seven times in our mouth before speaking. Words have effects, and these can be positive as well as negative. So we avoid the “oh, I’ll still be sick” and other negative mantras. We try to put the odds on our side, and it starts with what we say!
5. Exposing yourself to get used to your body
Something amazing about our body is its adaptability. If something tends to make him ill, getting him used to it by introducing this thing in small quantities can indeed help to make it tolerable by our body. Of course, this does not work for everything: the poison remains poison, consumed in small quantities or not. But for motion sickness, there are amazing ways to get used to your body and to make sure that it tolerates the movement of a vehicle.
It is first of all about identifying what makes you sick. The movement of the waves on a boat? Reading in a car? Repeating the activity that makes us sick (in a small dose) but fairly regularly can make us feel better and not feel the effects. If you have trouble reading by car without being nauseated, you can try to read 5 minutes by car and then put your book. We repeat the activity once an hour so that our body has time to get used to it. This could help reduce motion sickness!
6. The beneficial effects of acupuncture
Acupuncture is a branch of traditional Chinese medicine that involves inserting small needles at specific points of the body to stimulate the right energies. It is difficult to prove its effectiveness scientifically, but many people are satisfied with the effects this practice has on motion sickness. Safe, there is no reason not to try! If you believe in the effects of acupuncture, you should try.
Indeed, despite everything, the placebo effect plays an important role in our state of health. If you really believe that a method can help you, it will help you in a certain way. Also, we can replace acupuncture with any other type of soft medicine (if it is safe of course). Depending on the effects it has on you, continue or not. Up to you! But it can help you reduce motion sickness!
7. Think positive
Have you ever been told that nothing good ever came out of a negative thought? Indeed, negative thoughts attract negative things: even when it comes to health. To reduce motion sickness, we can simply begin by thinking that we will not suffer from motion sickness. If we are already in the situation and we start to feel the signs coming, to think that it will pass quickly can also help.
If you travel with children with motion-sickness, for example, you can tell them that after a certain age (for example, 9 years old, if the child has 8), the symptoms of motion sickness disappear from them. Pronounced by an adult and linked to a medical fact, this idea will have an impact on children who could quickly stop suffering from motions sickness. It’s very strange, and hard to believe but our mind is easier to deceive than we think!
8. Use ginger
Ginger is endowed with many health properties. It is particularly good as a preventive measure to reduce motion sickness. You can try to take one or two grams of ginger in any form half an hour before you hit the road, the train or the plane. Consume it the way you prefer, but it is important that ginger keeps its natural shape to a minimum in order to be as effective as possible. But a ginger herbal tea, for example, can quite work!
9. Watch out for your inner ear
Your inner ear is responsible for motion sickness. It is a gap between sight and perception of movement for example, or between the interpretation of movement by your inner ear that puts your brain in a state of confusion and triggers the unpleasant symptoms of motion problems. If you are seasick, it can be clever to lie down to no longer feel the wave movements for example. Thus, you minimize the impact of movement on your inner ear.
If you take the train, move in the direction of the movement of the train. Finally, if you ever travel by boat or car, looking at a fixed point or horizon can help you feel less and perceive parasitic movements around you, which tend to disrupt your inner ear. It’s about deceiving your mind into believing that ultimately the movement is not as important as that.
10. Medications as a last resort
It is a last resort if the other methods have not worked, and the symptoms of motion sickness that you are feeling are really bothersome and uncomfortable that you should be using drugs to calm it down. These medications may indeed have side effects like giving a dry mouth impression, and most importantly cause some addiction that they will be the only ones able to reduce motions sickness for you.
Thus, one thinks well before having recourse to these but it is true that their effectiveness and the speed of their operation can give you a reason to use them. In any case, if it is the case, respect the dosage of these and ask your doctor and your pharmacist.
Tags: Motion Sickness, Reduce Motion Sickness
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