For many people the summer months mean holiday travel by airplane, trains, boats or cars. The destination may be exciting and alluring but if you suffer from travel (motion) sickness then you may well be dreading the journey?!
Travel sickness is believed to be caused by movement and vibration disturbing the organs of the inner ear which govern our balance. Some people find that looking at the horizon helps to control the nausea and sickness brought on by travel. This may well help by restoring orientation and equilibrium to the disturbed sense of balance.
However, the majority of individuals rely on some kind of prescription or over-the-counter medication to prevent and alleviate their uncomfortable symptoms. There is a natural alternative that is worth considering, and that is ginger.
Traditionally ginger has been used for many years to prevent and treat the nausea and vomiting that characterises travel sickness. In the past ginger root was chewed or made into a tea and sipped, these methods are equally as valuable now though may prove distasteful or bothersome. Today, ginger is available in capsules and is very effective in this supplemental form.
A study(1) which looked at seasickness in 80 individuals found that 1g of powdered ginger root taken prior to travel reduced the tendency to vomiting (by 72%) and cold sweating when compared to the placebo. Fewer symptoms of nausea and dizziness were also reported by those who took the ginger supplement. Another trial(2) showed that ginger probably works by preventing the development of abnormal rhythms/contractions in the stomach (known as tachygastria) and also by reducing the amount of a type of hormone in the blood, vasopressin. Elevation of this hormone is associated with sickness.
500mg of ginger taken up to three times in the day may well help to prevent and treat travel sickness symptoms. It may be worth taking 500mg two hours or so before travel and then another 500mg at the onset of travel. Another dose could be taken at the mid-point of the journey.
What you eat while you travel (and probably just before hand) may well influence the degree to which you suffer from travel sickness symptoms. A study(3) looked at diet and airsickness in a population of novice civilian pilots. Findings of the study indicated that eating salty foods such as cheese, crisps and preserved meats was associated with increased incidence of airsickness. Salty foods may well have their effect via disruption of bodily hydration and water balance. The hormone I mentioned earlier, vasopressin, is also a hormone which is important in maintaining bodily water balance. It may be worth staying away from salty processed foods on the day you will be travelling – Staying away from such foods in general is advisable for good health!! Keeping well hydrated by sipping water during travel may help to keep the stomach settled and the body well hydrated.
Hopefully these tips may help your journeying to be a little more enjoyable!
(1)Grontved A et al. 1988. Ginger root against seasickness. A controlled trial on the open sea. Acta Otolaryngol. 105:45-49
(2)Lien HC et al. 2003. Effects of ginger on motion sickness and gastric slow-wave dysrhythmias induced by circular vection. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 284:G481-489
(3)Lindseth G & Lindseth PD. 1995. The relationshop of diet to airsickness. Aviat Space Environ Med. 66:537-541
Written by Ani Kowal
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