By Roxanne Reid
If you suffer from motion sickness, a long car journey may not be your idea of fun. Few things can ruin a trip as effectively as breaking into a cold sweat, turning deathly white (or green!), feeling dizzy and nauseous, even vomiting. Here are 10 tips for preventing motion sickness on a road trip.
If you suffer from motion sickness, a long car journey may not be your idea of fun. Few things can ruin a trip as effectively as breaking into a cold sweat, turning deathly white (or green!), feeling dizzy and nauseous, even vomiting. Here are 10 tips for preventing motion sickness on a road trip.
1. Choose the front seat and face forward, keeping your head stable.
2. Try to focus on the horizon straight ahead of you; don’t look from side to side or turn around to talk to passengers in the back seat.
3. Don’t read in the car – not even a map; let someone else navigate.
4. Avoid heavy meals before travelling, and steer clear of fatty or spicy foods and alcohol.
2. Try to focus on the horizon straight ahead of you; don’t look from side to side or turn around to talk to passengers in the back seat.
3. Don’t read in the car – not even a map; let someone else navigate.
4. Avoid heavy meals before travelling, and steer clear of fatty or spicy foods and alcohol.
Steer clear of fatty foods before or during a road trip if you're prone to motion sickness
5. If you have a choice, a straight road is less likely to make you lose your lunch than a winding one.
6. Try not to be anxious about it because this just increases the likelihood that you’ll feel queasy.
7. Get plenty of fresh air by opening a window.
8. For children, travel games that don’t involve looking down make good diversions. Anything that requires looking out the window (e.g. car spotting) is suitable, as are word or rhyme games.
6. Try not to be anxious about it because this just increases the likelihood that you’ll feel queasy.
7. Get plenty of fresh air by opening a window.
8. For children, travel games that don’t involve looking down make good diversions. Anything that requires looking out the window (e.g. car spotting) is suitable, as are word or rhyme games.
Eating fresh fruit in small doses is a much better idea
9. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so if you know you suffer from motion sickness try taking an over-the-counter (non-prescription) tablet at least 30 to 60 minutes before travelling. Many are antiemetics or antihistamines, which can make you drowsy, so take them only if you’re a passenger, not if you’re driving.
10. Travel with a leak-proof container in case of emergencies that sneak up on you before you can pull the car over and stop. If all else fails, remember P.J. O’Rourke’s advice in his book Modern Manners: ‘There is no way to make vomiting courteous. You have to do the next best thing, which is to vomit in such a way that the story you tell about it later will be amusing.’
Do you have any tips to add to this list? Add your ideas in the comments below.
Copyright © Roxanne Reid - No words or photographs on this site may be used without written permission from roxannereid.co.za. Photos in this post used under Creative Commons from RCB, mac morrison, bulliver, ButterflySha
10. Travel with a leak-proof container in case of emergencies that sneak up on you before you can pull the car over and stop. If all else fails, remember P.J. O’Rourke’s advice in his book Modern Manners: ‘There is no way to make vomiting courteous. You have to do the next best thing, which is to vomit in such a way that the story you tell about it later will be amusing.’
Do you have any tips to add to this list? Add your ideas in the comments below.
Copyright © Roxanne Reid - No words or photographs on this site may be used without written permission from roxannereid.co.za. Photos in this post used under Creative Commons from RCB, mac morrison, bulliver, ButterflySha
