Motion sickness during a journey is the worst part of any outing, but it is a very common problem too. Vertigo, giddiness, vomiting, etc. while travelling by car, bus, train or even in a plane is a matter of great concern for so many people, so much so that they even try to avoid any kind of travel due to this. It is more common among women as compared to men. We use our senses to see and enjoy everything around us, but while we are travelling in a vehicle, the brain finds it difficult to coordinate all these senses together. Due to the movement of the vehicle, the balancing mechanism in our ear is altered. When we look through the window, we feel like the frames are moving backwards even though we know that our body is moving forwards in the vehicle.
The brain is unable to correlate this. Similarly, when travelling in an airplane, we are moving at a speed of several kilometers, but everything appears to be still outside and again the brain is confused. The sudden jerks occurring in the flight too may create problems. Some people may have difficulty from the smell of fuel in a vehicle or the smell of smoke in a train. Usually, when there is such a confusion in the brain, it first stops the functions of the stomach and digestion and gastric emptying is stopped.
There is increased production of saliva with a feeling of giddiness and slight vertigo, which are all the initial signs of travel sickness. Once vomiting begins, it is followed up with more vomiting until the stomach is fully emptied. This is also associated with severe headache, pain around the eyes, and drooping. The complaints occur due to the lack of coordination in the brain and so, the activities that disturb the coordination must be avoided.
There are a few things that can be taken care of to avoid or reduce the problems of motion sickness.
1. If you are going on a long travel and if you know how to drive, you must opt to drive in between. While driving, the brain, eyes, hands, legs are all active and engaged and the tendency to vertigo is reduced.
2. To reduce the tendency of vomiting and vertigo, avoid eating a full stomach while preparing for a journey as the digestion and gastric emptying are altered due to a lack of coordination in the brain, which can lead to vomiting due to indigestion. Also, try to eat easily digestible foods and avoid highly spiced and fried foods.
3. Do not sit beside a person who you know has severe travel sickness, as watching someone else vomit or getting the smell of vomitus may trigger the sickness in you too.
4. Sit in a position which has minimum jerking such as the front seat of a car or the seats towards the front of a bus.
5. When sitting in a vehicle always focus your view to the front and not sideways. This prevents the feeling of things moving backwards, thereby preventing the difficulty in coordination by the brain. Another option is to keep the eyes closed.
6. Keep the ears closed too, thereby preventing the complaints of loss of ear balance. The ears may be closed using cotton balls or ear plugs to hear some music.
7. Sleeping during travel also is an option as the brain does not get any kind of confusion while asleep.
8. Reading or browsing through a mobile phone in a moving vehicle may cause prolonged strain to the eyes and subsequent vomiting, headache, and giddiness.
9. Drinking a lot of water or having junk foods while travelling may trigger vomiting as the digestion might not be happening properly.
10. Keeping the window slightly open instead of a closed space as in AC cars can help reduce vomiting.
11. Strong smelling air fresheners in the vehicle and strong perfumes must be avoided as these chemicals may act as irritants triggering vomiting and headache.
12. While travelling in a train, make sure to sit facing towards the direction of movement and not against it.
13. There are several very effective medicines in homoeopathy which can be taken before the commencement of the journey to avoid the travel sickness. Some of them are Conium Maculatum, Thuja Occidentalis, Bryonia, Pulsatilla, Nux Vomica, etc.