How To Prevent Car Sickness So Everyone Enjoys The Trip

Updated: Jul 19, 2018

Tips To Keep Car Sickness Symptoms Away So You Can Enjoy The Journey.

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Car sickness or motion sickness, the feeling by any name is NOT a good thing to have on a perfectly wonderful road trip.

Oftentimes it only happens when a person is sitting in the backseat, but there are cases when even the front seat passenger might begin to feel a bit under the weather. Your vision starts to waiver, your head spins, your stomach grows queasy and you try to choke back the nausea to avoid having to puke on the side of the road. Wouldn’t it be better if you could just prevent feeling this to begin with?

So, what causes this car sickness anyway?

Car sickness occurs when a person’s brain is not in sync with the inner ear or the eyes. That’s why people who are feeling motion sick on a boat are told to focus on the horizon.

The website WebMD defines motion sickness as “when the inner ear, the eyes, and other areas of the body that detect motion send conflicting messages to the brain. One part of your balance-sensing system (your inner ear, vision, and sensory nerves that help you keep your balance) may indicate that your body is moving, while the other parts do not sense motion.”

After a minute, this disconnect leads to conflict between the senses and that’s when the motion sickness sets in.

Try This First

And a word to the wise, don’t even try to read a book or text while in a moving car if you are prone to motion sickness. When you do you can be sure that every symptom will be even more pronounced from a very upset stomach to fatigue, to sweating and even vomiting.

Short of keeping your eyes out the window to stay focused, other ideas to decrease the feeling of motion sickness includes eating the right foods before taking a car ride.

Off the menu should be anything greasy and it is not a good idea to overeat before a long road trip either.

Make sure you have an air vent blowing on you if you are feeling sick and stock up on club soda and crackers to keep your tummy feeling better.

Try these 4 tips for preventing car sickness.

A Lady In The Back Seat Showing Her Motion Sickness Wristband She Wears In The Car. Motion Sickness Wristbands Can Help Reduce Car Sickness.

Motion Sickness wristbands can help reduce car sickness symptoms. Photo: Shannon Entin

Meds, Motion Sickness Wristbands, and the Quest For Relief From Car Sickness

There are medications that can be taken before heading out like Dramamine, but unless you want to fall asleep choose the non-drowsy formula. Benadryl is another suggestion for adults and children over the age of six.

If you prefer homeopathic cures for motion sickness, ginger is the most popular option. Some people swear by peppermint too. Either way, you can take these in pill form or just go for eating a piece of ginger or peppermint candy and see if that works.

Whatever you do, drink plenty of liquids or otherwise, you will get dehydrated and this will just make matters worse.

Motion Sickness Wristbands are also available and can be worn on the wrist, but these are definitely not as effective as the over-the-counter medicine.

So, while motion sickness is a bad side effect to a good journey, keep these cures in mind and if all else fails, try to sleep to alleviate the discomfort. Then, when you wake up, if you are lucky, you will be there.