Why You May Get Sick While Out on the Water
If you’re not used to traveling at sea, chances are that you’ll fall a bit sick on your first long adventure in a boat or a cruise ship, often referred to as sea sickness. More accurately, it’s actually “motion sickness” which can be triggered by means of transport that moves your body about constantly for hours on end, and traveling at sea qualifies that check box quite convincingly. But, why do you fall sick after all? What exactly happens to your body? Find out in this in-depth article.
WHAT IS SEA SICKNESS?
Essentially, it’s an unstable feeling that commonly includes symptoms like nausea, lightheadedness, wooziness, or dizziness. Some people are more prone to it than others, and you generally find out about it early on in your life even if you travel long distances by road.
WHAT CAUSES IT?
Your body maintains a physical balance through various signals received from different parts of your body, including your inner ears and your eyes. You also have a bunch of sensory receptors concentrated around your feet and legs that inform your nervous system about which of your body parts are grounded.
In a state of constant motion for hours on end (like traveling at sea), your body produces all sorts of conflicting signals that can easily confuse and offset your sense of balance — especially if you’re not accustomed to that sort of movement for extended periods.
This leads to a feeling called motion or sea sickness which often results in nausea or vomiting. It’s often experienced far at sea, or when plane passengers experience turbulence in a rough flight.
SEA SICKNESS SYMPTOMS
The primary symptom of seasickness is nausea and vomiting, which is why those throw-up bags are readily available for passengers on an airplane. Besides that, you may also get an upset stomach if it hasn’t been too long since your last meal. Other symptoms include dizziness, cold sweats, headaches, becoming pale, and losing or finding it hard to maintain balance.
SEA SICKNESS TREATMENT
Thankfully, you can easily get sea sickness medicine over the counter in any big and small pharmacy. They mostly only suppress the symptoms, while many also make you sleepy allowing you to rest through your traveling at sea. But, driving or operating any sort of vehicle or machinery is out of bounds under the effect of such medicine.
Readily available sea sickness medication is based on the ingredient dimenhydrinate, typically sold as Gravol or Dramamine. Prescribed ones, however, often include scopolamine in them, which is also known as hyoscine hydrobromide.
HOW CAN I PREVENT SEA SICKNESS?
On a cruise ship, try staying on the lowest floors possible as those move about the least. You should also try to book seats that are near the middle or front of the vessel. If that doesn’t help, feel free to open a vent to get fresh air. You should also avoid reading, as that can aggravate the sensation of motion.
Get good sleep before the journey begins. Also, try not to have any alcohol in your system as that can make things worse.
Eat at least two to three hours before you board the plane or ship to make sure you don’t have to deal with an upset stomach due to motion sickness. Make sure to carry some OTC (over-the-counter) medicine for sea sickness as a backup plan if none of the prevention tactics help.
BOTTOM LINE
Sea sickness usually doesn’t even require professional help or treatment, but the feeling still sucks, so it helps to know a thing or two about it before you venture out on your voyage. We hope that the information and tips shared above will help you out in your journey!