Easy Ways to Keep From Getting Seasick while Travelling to Lakshadweep
Your dream cruise can become a nightmare if the ship’s motion causes you to become seasick. Motion sickness brings with it nausea, vomiting, dizziness, headaches, and cold sweats. While seasickness can be mild, for some people it can be completely incapacitating.
Think of it this way: When you are inside a cabin on a ship, your eyes do not see movement, but the inner ear senses it. Your eyes are telling your brain there is no movement, while the inner ear is telling the brain there is. The result in some people is seasickness.
Strategies to Prevent Motion Sickness
Here are some ways you can reduce the risk of becoming seasick:
- Be well rested before setting sail. Missing sleep and feeling exhausted make you more susceptible to factors that can cause motion sickness. Wind down before your trip.
- Take antiemetic drugs. A variety of medications are available to help prevent or treat motion sickness. Medicines for nausea are called antiemetic drugs. They include antihistamines such as Bonine and Dramamine — available over the counter — and scopolamine drugs, which come in pill or patch form and require a prescription. “Most of the medications work by counteracting the effect of chemicals released by the brain during seasickness,” Bradberry says.Talk to you doctor about which medications are best for you, as you may be limited by other medications you are taking. Antihistamines can cause drowsiness and dry mouth and eyes. Because antihistamines block messages to the part of the brain that controls nausea and vomiting, taking a medication such as Dramamine works best if you take it before you get motion sickness. So for best results, take the pill before you board the ship, if you’re going on a short trip.
- Get fresh air. If you are feeling seasick, it is often helpful to go out on an open deck or balcony and look toward the horizon. Doing so helps your eyes “see” the motion, which will then send signals to the brain more in alignment with what the inner ear is “telling” the brain, Bradberry says. Fresh air, especially wind blowing in your face, tends to help. It also helps to focus on something other than the boat’s motion, so try to keep active while aboard the ship.
- Request a cabin mid ship and near the water line. “The side-to-side sway and the up and down ‘seesaw’ pitch motion of the ship is minimized in the middle of the boat,” Bradberry says. You might also want to request a room with a window or portal so that you can easily look out on the horizon.
- Have a bite. The best foods are light and bland, such as saltine crackers, plain bread, or pretzels. Having some food in your stomach is better than having an empty stomach, but be careful not to eat too much. Also, you might want to sip some ginger ale: Ginger is a well-known natural remedy for motion sickness. Peppermint also may have calming effects on the stomach. Many people find that eating crackers along with drinking water or soda helps.
- Wear an acupressure wristband. These wristbands apply pressure to a point on the wrist, generally where you wear a watch. Many people find the pressure helps them avoid nausea, one of the symptoms of motion sickness. You can find acupressure wristbands in some pharmacies, or order them from online stores such as Amazon.
- Avoid stimuli that can trigger nausea. “Nausea is a hallmark of seasickness. Any stimulus that triggers nausea can aggravate seasickness symptoms,” Bradberry says. Triggers include eating greasy foods, spicy foods, acidic foods such as citrus fruits and juices, and large meals. Avoiding alcohol helps because, as a diuretic, alcohol speeds up dehydration and can lower your body’s resistance to motion sickness, especially if you are prone to it. Steer clear of any noxious odors and other people on the boat who are vomiting from motion sickness.
- Choose your itinerary carefully. If you know that you get motion sickness, you should probably only sail on larger ships and select itineraries that go through calmer bodies of water. The Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, for example, tend to be calmer than most portions of the Atlantic Ocean. Also, newer ships are built with the latest stabilization systems, which help reduce the motion you feel.
Source – everydayhealth.com.
