Motion sickness can be caused by travel by road, sea or air. Few people suffer from sickness in an aircraft or on a ship on a smooth journey. Fewer still have problems when traveling by train. By and large car sickness is the major problem, so I shall concentrate on this.
The orthodox explanation is that when the balancing mechanism of the ear is altered by the motion of the vehicle, the brain is affected in a way which causes nausea. The constant motion gives no relief until such time as the journey is over.
The ecologist's or environmentalist's view is that the nausea is much more likely to be due to an individual sensitivity either to the inhalation of other people's exhaust fumes or the phenol 'outgassing' of the plastic fabrics used in the car upholstery and the inside body work which continue to give off fumes long after their manufacture. In cars upholstered in leather, there is the problem of the tanning chemicals with which the leather has been treated. Either of these can produce a wide range of symptoms in susceptible people, nausea being a common one. There may be other causes, too, or a reaction may be due to a combination of causes.
There is much which can be done to give the sensitive person his best chance of symptom-free travel. If you or one of your passengers is in this category, I make the following suggestions.
1. Take only a light meal with no alcohol before traveling. 2. Take a sickness pill half to one hour before your journey is due to start. 3. Put on sufficient clothing in order to have some fresh air circulating at all times and still be warm. 4. Advise sufferer to sit next to a window and keep looking out. 5. Plan in advance for time for stops. 6. Don't allow sufferer to read or do anything which requires looking down. 7. Do not allow smoking in the car. 8. Take barley sugars, glucose tablets or something similar. 9. When behind other vehicles in slow traffic, close windows. The larger the vehicle the greater the fumes! Keep your distance. 10. Try, if you can, to avoid travelling in the vicinity of roads being tarred, pesticide spraying, factory pollution and so on. (An open sunroof probably allows in a smaller amount of fumes than does an open window.) 11. If you are the driver, do not take any antihistamine which is known to cause drowsiness. Triludan or Hismanal should be alright. 12. If you are the driver, and you begin to feel sleepy, do stop the car at the first available parking spot, get out, and take a short walk - taking deep breaths of fresh air.
Mick is a full time web designer and has been writing articles for a few years. Check out his latest site about bathroom shower curtains. It is a great place to start if you are thinging about buying a new shower curtain for you home.
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