Five Tips to Help You Ease Your Motion Sickness

I have a friend who says Nakuru is the furthest he has ever travelled. From Nairobi to Nakuru. That is about 139 kilometres and at most a three-hour drive, sometimes even less. Apparently, he avoids travelling because he gets terrible motion sickness. He gets sick almost immediately and even hours after the journey is over, he still feels so sick.

When we talk of motion sickness, what mostly comes to mind immediately is the feeling of nausea and vomiting.

I once heard someone explain to friends that she doesn’t like travelling because she feels nauseated and her friends laughed it off and called her naïve.

Now, motion sickness is not a sign that one is naïve or lacks exposure. It is a very common disturbance of the inner ear, which is caused by repeated motion from a vehicle or any other movements that disturb the inner ear.

Motion sickness is said to be caused by conflicting signals in the ear, eyes and the brain.

Mostly, motion sickness symptoms include dizziness, headaches, nausea, an increase in saliva production, feeling very tired and some people even throw up.

I’ve always wondered how people who suffer from motion sickness survive. How boring life must be for them because they cannot travel. How difficult it is to be in a vehicle, seated next to mean people who can’t agree to their requests of having the vehicle’s windows open.

I have even heard of instances where, in cases of severe motion sickness cases where one has to throw up, one has to actually ‘pay’ for throwing up. I wonder if these people have to travel with extra cash.

The funniest I’ve heard, which is only funny for me because I can be a little evil girl sometimes, is one where an old man asked the conductor to allow him off the vehicle for a minute because he was feeling sick. And as you all may already know, some of our ‘makangas’ can decide to be very rude to passengers.

So, he was one of those and he blatantly refused to heed to the old man’s request. Before he could finish mouthing his rude answer, the old man had thrown up on him (the conductor). I thought that was a very good lesson for the conductor.

In case you are one of those people whose travel periods are a nightmare, here are some tips to help you ease the discomfort that comes with motion sickness.

Fresh air

When you travel, the vehicle is ‘an enclosed space’ and you certainly can’t do well in such places. Try to have your seat booked next to the window so you can have it open when need be. The best place to sit should be at the front seat.

Look at the horizon

Looking out of the moving vehicle and gazing towards the horizon in the direction of travel helps you re-orient the inner sense of balance by providing a visual reaffirmation of motion.

Take a nap

Apart from being a way of enjoying oneself because you are free and out of work, keeping your eyes closed and napping resolves the input of conflict between the eyes and the inner ear.

Chewing gum and/or raw ginger

Chewing gum, especially mint, calms the body and even the mint aroma helps you relieve that nauseous feeling.

Raw ginger does the same but be careful as it may act as a blood thinner.

There are also some over the counter medications that are said to help relieve motion sickness. The first dose is taken preferably an hour before travelling. More doses are taken during the journey, say every four hours.

Try these tips next time you travel and who knows? Maybe when you update your CV (if at all this still counts as part of CV contents), you’ll add ‘travelling’ to your list of hobbies.

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