What Exactly is Motion Sickness and Why it Causes of Nausea?
Motion Sickness is also known as Nausea (Scientific), matali (Hindi/Urdu), Malamalane (Marathi), Kumattal (Tamil), exin (Chinese), Nauseas (Spanish), nausea (Portuguese), Bami bami bhaba (Bengali), toshnota (Russian). Travel or motion sickness is a sensitivity to the constant passive movement of the body while in a car, boat, airplane, train, or bus. Some people may even experience it in lifts. It goes by many names sea sickness, car sickness, air sickness but motion sickness is a single disorder caused by an imbalance in equilibrium. Nausea and motion sickness can leave you feeling miserable and ruin what would otherwise be an exciting occasion or excursion. Fortunately, there are a few helpful foods known for easing both. Why only some people experience travel sickness is unclear. During movement, such as in car or airplane travel, the body, the inner ear, and the eyes may feel and see the movement differently. This sends conflicting information to the central nervous system and results in an uncomfortable, sick feeling.
Common Symptoms of Motion Sickness
For example, imagine that you are on a large boat that is being rocked about by waves. Your body feels the waves but your eyes don’t see them, just the stationary inside of the boat. With your eyes saying that there is no motion but your body feeling the rolling of the waves, your brain gets mixed signals. Motion sickness most often occurs in slow, complex movements that involve two different directions at the same time. Nausea, which is the sensation you get when you feel as if you could vomit, is a symptom of motion sickness. Other symptoms may include progressive nausea, pallor, faintness, dizziness, abdominal discomfort, headache, sweaty palms and face or increased salivation. For most people, motion sickness is a minor problem that will stop when the motion stops, but this is not always the case. Some people can be completely incapacitated by the motion sickness and suffer symptoms for days afterward. Travel sickness appears to be more common in women, and children under the age of two. Elderly people do not seem to be so troubled by the problem. Severe travel sickness can cause a complete lack of coordination.
Caution: Nausea (a feeling of sickness) and vomiting can be symptoms of various disorders, which include gastroenteritis, inner ear infection, migraine, excessive food or alcohol intake, hiatus hernia, pancreatitis, indigestion, food poisoning, gallstones, or liver disease. They may also be caused by hormonal changes in pregnancy and menstruation, travel, or by certain smells and sights. Nausea may be accompanied by a feeling of faintness and dizziness. Vomiting is usually preceded by nausea, and may be accompanied by sweating, excessive salivation, and a slowing of the heart rate. A constant feeling of nausea with no vomiting, but with a headache and abdominal pain, is most likely to be stress or anxiety related.
Home Remedies for Motion Sickness – Car Travel, Air, Sea and Amusement Parks
- Raspberry leaf tea, used for morning sickness is also a good treatment for motion sickness.
- Ginger Treatment for Motion Sickness: Ginger is another treatment for motion sickness. Ginger has been used for thousands of years to settle unsettled stomachs. Studies have shown that ginger calms intestinal spasms and can significantly reduce nausea. Try slowly chewing a few pieces of candied ginger when indigestion strikes. Munch it or buy Ginger capsules at the health food store. Take ginger tea or a standardized extract at the earliest signs of symptoms. If using for travel sickness, start taking the tea or extract before beginning your journey. OR You might also bring some candied ginger and chew on a piece of it from time to time.
- Treat Morning Sickness: Swallowing cracked ice may be beneficial in relieving morning sickness and motion sickness.
- Pleasant Herbal Tea: German Chamomile known more as a pleasant tasting tea than as a medicine, chamomile provides effective treatment for health problems as diverse as indigestion and acidity, travel sickness and poor sleep. Make sure to use good-quality chamomile to achieve the best results.
- Stop Dizziness in Car Travel: If you are in a car and you feel that everything seems to be in motion, try to look at a xed point, such as the horizon or a distant unmoving object. This should help to stop the dizziness. Before you take a car, boat, plane, or bus trip, eat a small amount of starch toast or saltines are a good bet. If you’re in a plane, make sure the vent air is blowing directly on you to keep you cooled down. If you’re in a car or bus, it helps to sit in the front seat and keep the window open. Look straight ahead, not out to the sides as the scenery whooshes by. On a boat, stay on deck. If you have to go below, stay in the middle of the boat where it’s most stable.
- Ease with Kitchen Cure: Clove tea can be used to soothe wind and ease nausea – particularly the nausea of travel sickness.
- Chinese Herbalism: Sipping a warm drink with grated root ginger may be helpful.
Natural Treatment for Nausea
- To Stop Vomiting: To 1 cup of water, add 10 drops of lime juice and 1/2 teaspoon sugar. Last, add 1/4 teaspoon baking soda. Stir and drink. This can immediately stop nausea and vomiting.
- Headache due to Nausea: No one knows why a cool pack makes you feel better if you’ve been vomiting. It just seems to work for some people. Fill a sandwich size resealable plastic bag with ice cubes. Wrap in a clean towel. Lie down in a quiet place. Apply the pack to your forehead, temples, or the back of your neck.
- An effective remedy is to chew 1 or 2 cardamom seeds.
- Natural Essences Solution: Suck a peppermint. It has a cooling sensation on the stomach and can help calm nausea.
- A mixture of 1 teaspoon ginger juice (or freshly grated ginger pulp) and 1 teaspoon onion juice will help to settle nausea and vomiting.
- Calm the Queasiness: Make a mixture of equal parts lemon juice and honey. Dip your index finger into the mixture and lick it, consuming the mixture slowly.
- DIY Easy Formula: Pop a few seeds of anise or fennel into your mouth. or chew a fresh basil leaf (spit into a saucer after chewing.) All these herbs freshen your mouth and reduce queasiness.
- Try stirring 1/2 teaspoon honey and 2 pinches of cardamom into half a cup of plain yogurt.
- Heal Acute Awareness of Stomach: A tea made from 1 teaspoon cumin seeds and a pinch of nutmeg steeped in a cup of hot water will be quite soothing.
- Control Sweating and Salivation: Drinking sugar cane juice can also be helpful, as is cranberry juice with a little lime juice added.
- Nausea in children: Try giving the child some coconut water. Add 1 teaspoon lemon juice to a cup of coconut water (the natural juice inside a fresh coconut), and have the child take a sip every 15 minutes or so to settle the stomach.
- Ginger is effective at reducing the symptoms of motion sickness, including nausea, in many people. Some research has shown that it is as effective as, or more effective than, over-the-counter medications for motion sickness. Fresh ginger can be grated into soothing drinks, and dried or crystallized ginger can be used as a snack. Dried, ground ginger can also be incorporated into simple baked goods such as breads and cookies. Try some recipes such as Ginger Lemon Tea, Ginger Baked Apples, Gingerbread Oatmeal, Ginger Spiced Cookies, Ginger Banana Bread.