Tag Archives: vertigo

Why we get motion sick, and how to stop it

“Most experts believe that people feel motion sick when the parts of their brain responsible for maintaining balance receive conflicting sensory information, often due to a difference between what they’re feeling and what they’re seeing.”

“The best way to prevent motion sickness is to look out at the horizon when you’re moving in a car, boat or plane — this helps to eliminate the sensory mismatch, because your eyes see that you’re moving, “

“Some medications can help prevent motion sickness, such as those containing dimenhydrinate, meclizine or scopolamine. (All of these drugs cause drowsiness, and scopolamine can also cause blurred vision and problems urinating.)”

“He added that there is some research suggesting that focusing on your breathing can prevent motion sickness, too. Before a trip, he suggested practicing breathing in deeply and keeping your breaths slow and steady, and to try to do this while you’re traveling, too.”

“When it comes to the effects of ginger, experts disagree. Dr. Stoffregen said that eating ginger snaps or ginger candies before a trip can help prevent motion sickness, as can sipping ginger ale, as long as it contains real ginger and not artificial flavoring. But Dr. Bubka said she hasn’t seen good research supporting ginger’s benefits.”

“Three days ago, my family had the opportunity to put many of these suggestions to the test when we embarked on an ‌eight-hour car journey home from Maine. Hoping to minimize the chance that my daughter got sick — and wanting to let her watch her iPad on the long drive — I gave her diphenhydramine (Dramamine) 45 minutes before we started off. I also sat her in the middle of the back seat and told her to look at the horizon if she started to feel woozy. It was a success: One of our first vomit-free, whine-free family travel experiences in years.”

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