Motion Sickness Travel Sickness

Motion sickness (travel sickness) is common, especially in children. It is caused by repeated unusual movements during travelling, which send strong (sometimes confusing) signals to the balance and position sensors in the brain.
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Repeated movements, such as going over bumps or around in a circle, send lots of messages to your brain. If you are inside a vehicle, particularly if you are focused on things that are inside the vehicle with you then the signals that your eyes send to the brain may tell it that your position is not changing, whilst your balance mechanisms say otherwise.

Your inner ear balance mechanisms also feel different signals to those that your eyes are seeing which then sends your brain mixed, confusing messages. This confusion between messages then causes the symptom of motion sickness.
Motion sickness can also be triggered by anxiety or strong smells, such as food or petrol. Sometimes trying to read a book or a map can trigger motion sickness. Both in children and adults, playing computer games can sometimes induce motion sickness.
Motion sickness is more common in children and also in women. Fortunately, many children grow out of having motion sickness. It is not known why some people develop motion sickness more than others. Symptoms can develop in cars, trains, planes and boats and on fairground rides, etc. Symptoms typically go when the journey is over; however, not always. In some people they last a few hours, or even days, after the journey ends.

Symptoms of motion sickness

The symptoms of motion sickness are:
•    Feeling sick (nausea).
•    Sweating
•    Increase in saliva
•    Headaches
•    Feeling cold and going pale
•    Feeling weak

How to prevent motion sickness
Some general tips to avoid motion sickness include the following.
Prepare for your journey
•    Don't eat a heavy meal before travelling. Light, carbohydrate-based food like cereals an hour or two before you travel is best.
•    On long journeys, try breaking the journey to have some fresh air, drink some cold water and, if possible, take a short walk.
Where you sit
•    Keep motion to a minimum. For example, sit in the front of a car, over the wing of a plane, or on deck in the middle of a boat.
•    On a boat, stay on deck and avoid the cafeteria or sitting where your can smell the engines.
Breathing and smell
•    Breathe fresh air if possible. For example, open a car window.
•    Avoid strong smells, particularly petrol and diesel fumes. This may mean closing the window and turning on the air conditioning, or avoiding the engine area in a boat.
Using your eyes and ears differently
•    Close your eyes (and keep them closed for the whole journey). This reduces 'positional' signals from your eyes to your brain and reduces the confusion.
•    Don't try to read.
•    Try listening to an audio book with your eyes closed. There is some evidence that distracting your brain with audio signals can reduce your sensitivity to the motion signals.
•    Try to sleep - this works mainly because your eyes are closed, but it is possible that your brain is able to ignore some motion signals when you are asleep.
•    Do not read or watch a film.
•    It is advisable not to watch moving objects such as waves or other cars. Don't look at things your brain expects to stay still, like a book inside the car. Instead, look ahead, a little above the horizon, at a fixed place.
•    If you are the driver you are less likely to feel motion sickness. This is probably because you are constantly focused on the road ahead and attuned to the movements that you expect the vehicle to make. If you are not, or can't be, the driver, sitting in the front and watching what the driver is watching can be helpful.
Treating your tummy gently
•    Avoid heavy meals or alcohol before and during travelling. It may also be worth avoiding spicy or fatty food.
•    Try to 'tame your tummy' with sips of a cold water or a sweet, fizzy drink. Cola or ginger ale are recommended.

What natural treatments are there for motion sickness?
Natural treatments
All the techniques above which aim to prevent motion sickness will also help reduce it once it has begun. Other techniques, which are useful on their own but can also be used with medicines if required, are:
•    Breathe deeply and slowly and, while focusing on your breathing, listen to music. This has been proved to be effective in clinical trials.
•    Ginger - can improve motion sickness in some people (as a biscuit or sweet, or in a drink).

What medicines are there for motion sickness?
There are several medicines available which can reduce, or prevent, symptoms of motion sickness. You can buy them from pharmacies or, in some cases, get them on prescription. They work by interfering with the nerve signals described above.
Medicines are best taken before the journey. They may still help even if you take them after symptoms have begun, although once you feel sick you won't absorb medicines from the stomach very well. So, at this point, tablets that you put against your gums, or patches, are more likely to be effective.
Some medicines used for motion sickness may cause drowsiness. Some people are extremely sensitive to this and may find that they are so drowsy that they can't function properly at all. For others the effects may be milder but can still impair your reactions and alertness. It is therefore advisable not to drive and not to operate heavy machinery if you have taken them. In addition, some medicines may interfere with alcohol or other medication; your doctor or the pharmacist can advise you about this.