Posted by Janet Harriett on Jun.03, 2010

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Summer travel season is upon us, and for many adults and children, traveling means dealing with motion sickness. As a regular traveler and veteran of motion sickness on land, sea and air, I’m always on the lookout for ways to prevent motion sickness. Vomiting is just not a fun way to start a vacation.

For many years, I wouldn’t consider a trip without either Dramamine or Bonine. However, even splitting the pills to take just a half dose, barely enough to keep the vomiting at bay and not nearly enough to stave off nausea, I would still have to factor in a full day to recoup from what the label charitably calls “drowsiness.” Road trips were exceedingly unpleasant, since I couldn’t take a motion sickness drug if I was going to take a turn at the wheel at all.

Traveling became much more fun when I discovered a natural remedy for my motion sickness that left me bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at my destination. My motion sickness is severe enough that I use a combination of several approaches, but those with more mild symptoms may be able to get by with one or two of these.

Ginger

Ginger is widely known for its stomach-calming properties, and it’s my first line of defense against motion sickness. Clinical studies showed that ginger relieved seasickness better than a placebo, but not quite as well as prescription anti-nausea drugs. However, ginger does not cause drowsiness, and what side effect ginger does cause (some heartburn and oral sores at high doses) are generally milder than the drugs.

While you could just eat the raw gingerroot straight, gnawing on a chunk of ginger may not be any more pleasant than a full-fledged bout of motion sickness. Crystalized or candied ginger, while high in sugar, may be more palatable. Dried, powdered ginger in capsules are convenient to take along when traveling, as long as you have a little bit of water to wash the capsules down. Ginger tinctures are another option that can be especially useful with small kids who can’t swallow capsules. As with any herbal medicine, consult a pediatrician before giving medicinal doses of ginger to children, especially those under 2 years of age.

The University of Maryland Medical Center recommends capping ginger consumption at 4 grams of dried ginger per day for a 150-pound adult, and pediatric doses cut in proportion to the child’s weight (for example, 2 grams daily for a 75-pound child). When used to combat motion sickness, ginger doses should be spaced about four hours apart.

Ginger is a warming herb and can cause a mildly unpleasant burning sensation in the stomach as the capsules dissolve. Too much ginger can thin blood, especially when combined with other blood-thinners like aspirin. Ginger ale and ginger-containing foods don’t generally contain enough ginger to be effective against nausea, but they may have a calming psychological effect.

Acupressure

Pericardium 6, or Nei Guan, is an acupuncture point along the inside of the arm, about two finger-widths from the main wrist crease, which can relieve nausea. Since bringing your acupuncturist along on vacation isn’t practical, you can get the same anti-nausea effects with acupressure wristbands sold in many drugstores and travel shops. These are somewhat tight wristbands with a domed button that applies continuous pressure to the Pericardium 6 point when properly positioned. The wristbands are reusable, and have become an essential part of my travel kit. Some practitioners indicate that magnetic wristbands are more effective than the non-magnetic variety. Other than a red mark from the band that fades in a couple of hours, there are no side effects to the wristbands.

Cola Syrup

Available over the counter in some pharmacies or through online stores, cola syrup (essentially, the flavoring used in Coke) can alleviate nausea. The usual dosing for children is 1-2 teaspoons, and 1-2 tablespoons for adults. The syrup should be sipped slowly and not diluted either in the glass or in the stomach. Cola beverages are generally too diluted to get an effective dose of cola syrup.

While cola syrup is effective, Green Diva Mom doesn’t recommend it except as a last resort (and not just because I hate the taste).  Cola syrup is most commonly made  with corn syrup. You may be able to find one made with sugar syrup instead of corn syrup, but substituting one refined sweetener for another isn’t much of an improvement for health. Additionally, cola syrup contains caffeine - not a problem for regular coffee imbibers like me, but definitely requires caution with kids. The smallest bottles of cola syrup commonly sold are four ounces, so the original bottle won’t get past the TSA checkpoint if you’re traveling by air.

Sleep

If you can swing it, sleeping through the flight or the car trip is a surefire way to keep motion sickness at bay. Getting your child to nap on the plane or in the car might be difficult, but they’ll arrive at the destination rested and not nauseated.

Square Breathing

Relaxation techniques can keep motion sickness at bay, or prevent mild nausea from progressing into something worse. Square breathing is a basic breathing exercise that you can teach even a small child to do, as long as he or she can count to four. The breathing exercises help relieve the nausea physically, and repetitive counting keeps the mind something to concentrate on besides the tummy sensations.

1. Count to four while you inhale through your nose (up the side of a square)
2. Hold the breath in for a count of four (along the top of the square)
3. Exhale through the nose for a count of four (down the opposite side of the square)
4. Hold the breath out for a count of four (along the bottom of the square to the start point)
5. Repeat

Preventing Motion Sickness

While the causes of motion sickness aren’t known for sure, one of the most common hypotheses is that it arises from conflicting inputs from vision, balance sensors and proprioception (the part of the nervous system that tells the brain what position the body is in). Basically, your body can’t figure out whether it’s moving or not, and in what direction (why this results in expelling the stomach contents is another question entirely). You can minimize motion sickness by reducing the amount of conflicting input.

• In a car, encourage kids to look out the front of the car or at the horizon, rather than at the roadside whizzing by
• Give a child an audiobook to listen to rather than reading in the car or on the plane, or playing with a toy that requires them to look down
• Don’t watch the in-flight movie
• Keep carsick-prone kids far away from in-car DVD players
• Choose a seat as near as possible to over the wing of the aircraft when flying, where the plane is most stable. These are usually the mid-plane exit rows (not an option if you’re flying with kids under 15) or the rows immediately ahead and behind the exit rows.
• Get a cabin toward the front of a ship, and on the upper decks

One trick that works for me on airplanes is to get into “crash position” when the plane stops flying straight and level and starts turning and descending for the landing. Leaning forward slightly with my head braced against the seat ahead of me seems to minimize the tummy-jolting that occurs during approach maneuvers. It may seem slightly alarming to other passengers, but having done both, I can say crash position is less disruptive than vomiting during the landing.

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