13 Possible Cures For Motion Sickness While Travelling

Do rides in cars, airplanes, boats, amusement parks, and even virtual reality devices make you motion sick?

An imbalance between what your eyes see, what your inner ear detects, and how your brain interprets movement can lead to motion sickness, a common illness. This sensory imbalance can cause nausea, lightheadedness, sweating, and vomiting.

Motion sickness affects about one in three people at some point, and it is particularly common in children, pregnant women, and migraine sufferers. For many, it can make travel difficult by transforming a good trip into an unpleasant experience.

Fortunately, motion sickness can be avoided and controlled with some treatments. The following sections will cover the best ways to prevent motion sickness when traveling.

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What is Motion Sickness, and What Causes it?

Motion sickness occurs when your body, inner ear, and eyes send contradictory signals to your brain. It can occur when you are being moved by a vehicle while your body remains motionless, such as when you are standing on a boat deck or riding in a car.

Virtual motion sickness, often known as VMS, is a type of motion sickness that some people experience when playing video and virtual reality games. Symptoms include headache, chilly sweats, and nausea. Thankfully, there are strategies to avoid motion sickness or lessen its effects.

When your eyes, inner ear, muscles, and joints—the elements of your body that feel motion—all send contradictory signals to your brain, motion sickness results. Here’s an illustration of what occurs when you’re in a car:

• Signs, trees, and other fixed objects enter your field of vision and then disappear so your eyes detect movement. They communicate to your brain that you are moving.
• You sweat or feel sick because your brain cannot interpret the contradicting signals.

Symptoms of Motion Sickness

While motion sickness is often taken lightly because of its lack of severity, let me bring to your attention that these signs and symptoms are not limited to one. A person who suffers from motion sickness could have multiple symptoms.

Some noticeable symptoms of motion sickness include:

• Nausea and vomiting
• Excessive sweating
• Dizziness
• Shortness of breath
• Drowsiness
• Uneasiness and discomfort
• Drooling
• Headache
• Breathing quickly or feeling a need to take big breaths

Read More: How To Make Yourself Throw Up? 10 Effective Ways to Induce Vomit Yourself

How to Treat Motion Sickness

Now that we have discussed motion sickness’s causes and symptoms, let’s explore some common home remedies to help curb its symptoms.

1. Consume Small Meals and Drink Plenty of Water

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises eating small, more frequent meals and drinking water before a trip. Also avoid eating packaged food on board. Avoid oily, salty, or spicy foods, and restrict your use of alcohol and caffeinated drinks before and during your trip.

2. Use Music or Chat to Divert Attention

Turn on the radio or strike up a conversation to distract yourself. You can divert your attention long enough to recover. Although they found minimal effect on nausea itself, researchers in a 2022 meta-analysis concluded that listening to music can help with post-operative vomiting. Listening to music could also help someone avoid throwing up while traveling.

3. Try Lemon Juice

Lemon is one of your best friends if you struggle with motion sickness while traveling. Every part of the lemon comes in handy when it comes to treating motion sickness. While lemon juice settles the stomach and the queasiness that comes with it, the lemon rind and leaves have a distinct zesty smell, which helps settle the symptoms related to nausea and uneasiness.

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4. Don’t Read or Use a Computer While Traveling

Even though it could be tempting to catch up on work or read a good book, it’s best to avoid reading or using electronics like computers or tablets, especially when traveling. Your inner ear’s balancing center detects movement while the words on the paper or screen remain stationary, and these conflicting signals can make you feel queasy.

5. Steer Clear of Abrupt Head Movements

Avoid quick or abrupt head movements, particularly those that require twisting or turning. Try lying down with your eyes closed or resting your head on the back of your seat.

6. Try Ginger

Many people use ginger root to treat nausea, consuming it as lozenges, tea, capsules, tablets, crystallized root, candies, or ginger ale. Ginger may have some anti-nausea properties when it comes to stimuli that cause nausea.

Due to its potential to disrupt blood coagulation and lengthen the bleeding time, ginger should not be used within two weeks following surgery or by those on “blood-thinning” drugs or supplements, such as warfarin. Do not use ginger when pregnant or nursing without first talking to your doctor.

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7. Chew on Mint Leaves

The fresh flavor of mint leaves helps to alleviate the signs and symptoms of motion sickness while traveling. As a natural herb with little to no side effects, it is considered a good option, even for small children. Mint leaves have antiemetic properties, which help keep motion sickness at bay.

8. Sip on Some Water or a Fizzy Beverage

You can also reduce your nausea by drinking cold water or carbonated beverages, such as ginger ale or seltzer. Avoid caffeinated drinks, such as coffee and some sodas, as they can cause dehydration and exacerbate nausea. Apple juice and milk are other excellent options.

9. Practice Acupressure

Stimulating the Nei Guan (P6), an acupressure point along your wrist, might provide immediate relief. Starting beneath the wrist crease, place your right hand’s index, middle, and ring fingers on the inside of your left wrist.

Your Nei Guan point is between the wrist tendons beneath your index finger. Apply hard pressure to one or both wrists for a few seconds or until the symptoms subside.

To alleviate nausea or vomiting, you can stimulate more acupressure sites.

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10. Aromatherapy

Some fragrances, such as pure peppermint essential oil, could also be beneficial. According to a 2016 study, the aroma of peppermint helped patients feel less queasy after surgery.

Although there are numerous ways to utilize oils, experts advise diffusing for no more than an hour to reduce any possible hazards. Although inhalation has the lowest interaction risk, theoretically, inhaling a lot of essential oils for more than an hour could make you sick.

Using an essential oil necklace or sniffing from a basic oil bottle might be more practical in a moving car.

11. Try Natural Treatments

Research supports using herbs like chamomile and ginger to treat nausea and motion sickness. These supplements are frequently available online, in your neighborhood pharmacy, or at health food stores. Making tea with these plants will help you feel better.

12. Lozenges of Licorice Root

Licorice root treats indigestion, stomach acid irritation, and stomach ulcer pain. It also prevents nausea and vomiting. Lozenges are available online or in pharmacies. The brand you buy will determine the serving size.

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13. Over-the-counter Antihistamines

Antihistamines usually help with allergies. Nevertheless, over-the-counter medications that contain meclizine (Antivert), dimenhydrinate (Dramamine), or diphenhydramine (Benadryl) can also help.

Dimenhydrinate and diphenhydramine are frequently safe for children over two. However, you should consult a physician about the dosage.

Antihistamines may make you drowsy, so if you intend to drive, you might want to avoid taking them.

How to Prevent Motion Sickness?

While it is always good to be well-versed with some good old remedies, isn’t it better to prevent the possibility of motion sickness in the first place?

One can opt for some preventive measures to effectively prevent motion sickness’s signs and symptoms.

• When you are inside a car and focus on reading a book or even playing a game on the phone, the sensory inputs from these sources often cause motion sickness. Avoid doing so and divert your focus to the outside of the car.
• Some of the common symptoms of motion sickness include headache and excessive sweating. If you are experiencing such symptoms, try rolling down the windows of the car and breathing in some fresh air to help curb them easily. Even the odd stench inside the car can contribute to nausea.
• Choose your seats carefully. If you’re on a boat, steer clear of the top levels. Sit in the front if you’re in a car. Seek a seat above the front edge of the wing if you’re flying.

Motion sickness can happen to anyone from the age of 8 to 80. While the problem might not seem very life-threatening, it tends to make your experience a big downer, which is not something anyone wishes for. Try to opt for any of these remedies mentioned above to keep them in check.

Read More: 20 Remedies for Jet Lag for a Fresh and Rejuvenated Body Post-Flight

Conclusion

Although motion sickness can be an unpleasant experience, there are several ways to control it. Finding the best option for you may require trial and error because every person’s body reacts differently. Trying out various strategies, whether they involve natural cures or over-the-counter drugs, can make your trip more comfortable.

Don’t let motion sickness prevent you from enjoying your travels if you suffer from it. See which of these efficient remedies suits you the best.

• Aug 2018
  Written by Somapika D
• Feb 2025
  Edited by Ankita