Is travelling a nightmare for you? Did someone ever ask you to accompany them on a long-distance trip and you were not looking forward to it? Not because you are not fascinated by the idea of exploring new places but because you know what travel makes you feel. Do you always feel dizzy and nauseated? Do you ever end up vomiting or sweating while travelling?
These are symptoms associated with a travelling condition called motion sickness. Depending on the mode of transport, it can also be called sea sickness, air sickness or car sickness. Medical experts say that it can affect any person. Women are affected especially during pregnancy or periods. Kids between 3 and 12 years are also affected and people who often get migraines are more prone to it. I may not give you the medical nitty-gritty of the condition but what I will do is give you some tips on how you can lessen the effect of motion sickness on you. You do not have to dread travelling. In fact, it should be fun.
Snack/Chew gum
A simple way of relieving motion sickness is by snacking on something while travelling. Take sweets or chewing gums that are preferably minty. The scientific explanation to this is that chewing lessens the effect of the conflict between vision and balance.
Get fresh air
Sitting in a stuffy bus or car will make you feel nauseated. The best way of dealing with this is by letting in fresh air into the bus or car.
Avoid fatty foods and alcoholic drinks
Fatty foods make you feel full and give you that bad nauseated feeling. On the other hand, alcoholic drinks will make you feel dizzy. This coupled with nausea can easily cause you to throw up. Stick to light snacks accompanied by lots of water to stay hydrated.
Sit at the front in a car
Motion sickness gets worse when you sit where you can experience it the most. Sit where you will experience the least motion, preferably at the passengers’ seat in the front.
Put that book or phone down
That book you are reading could be very thrilling or the trends on Twitter may be very exciting but if you are often affected by motion sickness, consider putting them down as you travel because your condition will only get worse.
Sit facing the direction of your travel
Sitting facing the opposite direction to where you are going makes you dizzy.
Avoid strong scents
Strong odours or scents will in most cases leave you nauseated. Go slow on that strong cologne or perfume. If you are using public means of transport, sit next to a window where you will open the window to allow fresh air in.
Focus on a fixed object/sleep
When you are travelling and your brain registers different signals from what the eyes can see, such that your eyes can see you are in motion but your brain gets signals that show that you are still, you are likely to experience motion sickness as a result of this mismatch of information. A simple way of dealing with this is focusing on a fixed object, like the horizon or better still, take a nap.
Get more tips here on how to deal with it.
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