I'm intrigued by the cause and prevention of sea sickness because of a recent experience I had on Bangarang. I was reading peacefully one afternoon in my berth below. I looked up and out the hatch at the sky, watching the rain fall. I was fascinated by the cloud formations as they literally roiled and exploded across the sky. Bangarang was moving slightly but was tied at the dock. All of a sudden, I was sea sick. What? At the dock? We weren't even underway. How can that happen?!
Nausea is the primary symptom, with clamminess, sweating, dizziness, sleepiness, restlessness, disorientation, and/or vomiting often present as well. One theory, the "neural mismatch theory," suggests that these symptoms are the result of the brain's inability to reconcile conflicting signals from the eyes and inner ear about what is moving around us. It is believed that other sensory signals, such as smells and sounds, may contribute to sea sickness as well.
There is a lot of guidance out there about sea sickness, what causes it, how to avoid it, and how to cure it. Some theories are scientifically tested and others may be old sailors' tales. In my case, I took a Dramamine and went topside to sit in our salon, which helped. Within a half hour, I was fine.
Here are 52 ways claimed by many to prevent or cure sea sickness, for your entertainment. I suggest you read them in calm seas, topside, away from diesel fumes, after a light, healthy meal, keeping your eyes frequently on the horizon, and when you have time to waste.
1) Fool yourself. 99% is mental. If you feel sea sickness coming on, tell yourself, "I don't get sea sick" just like you've been telling all your sailing friends. Say it over and over if necessary. Say it with conviction.
2) Look at the horizon. When your boat is rocking in rough seas, everything is moving. Looking at the horizon, which is not moving, may correct your equilibrium. Or...maybe not.
3) Avoid strong or bad smells. Like smoke, diesel fumes, cologne, old fish, vomit. Move to fresh air as quickly as possible.
4) Don't watch other people who are sea sick. Motion sickness may be contagious!
5) Be careful about what you eat. Some believe an empty stomach will help avoid sea sickness. Others swear that eating a full meal will help. Remember that greasy, high fat foods swirl around your stomach just as much as a low fat yogurt or a salad.
6) Chew gum. Better yet, chew ginger gum. The repetitive motion of chewing helps to relieve symptoms for some. If it doesn't work for you, you can still enjoy fresh breath.
7) No booze! Alcohol can make you sick on stable land, so why would you drink it on a boat?
8) Eat crackers. Specifically Saltines. An old sailor's myth? I like mine with peanut butter, jelly, and Nutella, or a raw oyster, caviar and creme fraiche, but I think the myth says they're supposed to be eaten plain.
9) Drink lime juice. Drinking lime juice in stormy seas will supposedly contract your stomach and prevent nausea. (If you try this, be sure to avoid all dairy because we all know that lime juice mixed with cheese in a Dorito is tasty, but in real life, this combination can create curds in your stomach.)
10) Eat ginger. Chew it, suck on it, put it in your tea. It has long been a favorite home remedy for motion sickness. If you believe it works (see #1), it probably will!
11) Carrot juice, apricot juice, citrus, prunes, mints, black horehound, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme... There are 101 plants that reportedly help cure sea sickness. It would be prudent to try each of them in small amounts, especially the prunes.
12) Try aromatherapy. Buy a fine mist sprayer, fill it with distilled water, and a few drops each of lemon oil, cedar wood oil, dill oil, lavender oil, peppermint and spearmint oil. Shake the solution and spritz it on your face. You can pretend you're enjoying a day at your favorite spa!
13) Take over-the-counter drugs. Dramamine and Bonine are the most common sea sickness remedies available in the store. They contain antihistamines, so they may cause drowsiness. Stugeron is the brand name for cinnarizine, another over-the-counter antihistamine, which supposedly works even after you feel dizzy. If these antihistamines don't prevent your sea sickness, you will at least have taken care of that itchy, unsightly rash.
14) Take Ambien. One cure for sea sickness--and some say it is the best cure--is to sleep through it! It's hard to fall asleep when you're feeling sick. Ambien will knock you out. You must take it prior to the vomiting stage. And you need a prescription from a doctor. Do not mix with alcohol (see #7). And don't expect your boat's alarm to wake you up if it starts sinking.
15) Wear wrist bands. These anti-sea sickness bands worn on your wrist come in two types: acupuncture and magnetic. They supposedly work by applying pressure or magnets to a pressure point on the underside of your arm, about an inch and a half above your wrist. There don't seem to be many side effects except giving you a funny tan line.
16) Try acupuncture. If the wrist band doesn't work, acupuncture might. But be warned: sharp needles and moving boats are not a safe combination. And where do you stick those needles?
17) Wear a patch. Scopolamine patches are worn behind the ear, acting like Bandaids with small amounts of medicine that are absorbed into your skin. You need a prescription for these patches. There are reported side effects with Scopolamine, as there are with almost all prescription drugs: clamminess, sweating, dizziness, sleepiness, restlessness, disorientation, and/or vomiting. Sound familiar?
18) Drink lots of water. But be prepared to pee off the stern of your boat because going below may trigger sea sickness.
19) Change heading. Sometimes a ship will adopt a certain rhythm which irritates people. This might be remedied by changing course or speed...if your Captain lets you!
20) Don't get pregnant. Many women never experience sea sickness until after they've had a child. And keep in mind that your risk of pregnancy increases when you throw up your birth control pills!
21) Close your eyes. Since many believe that sea sickness is caused by your brain being confused by conflicting signals, reduce the signals by eliminating smells, sounds, tastes, and vision. Sound-eliminating ear plugs and a comfy eye mask might help.
22) Call your local astronaut and borrow his goggles. NASA has done extensive research on the cause and prevention of motion sickness. One tested treatment is to wear special goggles that mimic a strobe effect to ‘freeze’ the moving visual scene on the retina. The lenses are made of LCD ‘shutters’ that rapidly switch from dark to clear, allowing four 10-millisecond ‘flashes’ of light to come through each second. And get your astronaut's autograph too while you're at it.
23) Enroll in an Autogenic Feedback Training Exercise. AFTE is a six-hour training program developed by NASA to train people to voluntarily control certain physiological responses to a variety of environmental stressors. Not sure what that means exactly? Me neither.
24) Avoid reading and working on your computer. Do you remember taking car trips as a child with your family and reading in the backseat? Mmm hmm. Evidently many believe that the concentration of vision required for these activities mixed with external motion can bring on sickness.
25) Buy a program. It may not surprise you that there are all kinds of programs for sale on DVD, online, and in phone apps. The creators of these programs often claim to be doctors or specialists. All guarantee that your sea sickness will be avoided or alleviated, or your money back! I'm sure these programs work.
26) Get a saline drip and and a dose of oxygen. Nothing dehydrates you faster than a good bout of sea sickness, making your condition worse. If you're on a cruise ship, a trip to the ship's hospital for an IV and an oxygen mask may be your solution. Nowadays, you can even purchase an oxygen bottle over-the-counter! Who knew?
27) Relax in a hammock. Laying down in a simple parachute hammock strung fore-to-aft will let you rest with reduced motion while the boat rolls beneath you. This is not a perfect solution, but when compared to many of the suggestions listed here, it sounds pretty good.
28) Be a burrito. Wrap yourself tightly in a blanket and wedge yourself in bed in such a way that you are pinned against the wall, unable to roll around. Close your eyes and pretend you're a burrito.
29) Get in the water. This is impossible on most boats, but if you're on a ship big enough to have a swimming pool, jump in! If not, use that hammock you brought along! Some people believe that you can reduce motion sickness by submersing yourself in water.
30) Stay in the middle. It is often thought that the stern is the best place to be to avoid sea sickness, but motion is actually least pronounced at the center of a boat. The bow and stern should be avoided, unless you're steering or peeing. And definitely do not climb upwards!
31) Get to work. Studies have shown that sailors doing a lot of tasks on boats are less aware of rough weather around them, thereby preventing them from getting sick.
32) Believe in the "hair of the dog." Professional sailors often get seasick in the beginning of their careers, but as time goes by, they become acclimated to the motion and are no longer prone to sea sickness.
33) Lie down. Some say that lying down prevents histamines from reaching the brain, decreasing nausea.
34) Take the "Navy Cocktail." Reportedly used by the US Navy and NASA, this remedy consists of a heavy dose of ephedrine and phenergan, taken orally. Hopefully, doctors were involved in the development and testing of this cocktail. Served shaken, not stirred.
35) Roll with the punches. Fighting the roll of the boat is exhausting and can quickly lead to sea sickness. Roll with the ship and stop trying to fight the motion.
36) Immerse your feet in ice water. Not sure if this is an old wive's tale or a real cure. Maybe it's so uncomfortable that it takes your mind of your symptoms.
37) Drink Coke, or avoid drinking Coke. Some people swear that Coke will prevent sea sickness and others swear Coke causes it. Some believe any carbonated beverage will help and Ginger Beer works best.
38) Get diagnostic testing. Some people who think they have sea sickness may, in fact, not have it at all. Instead, they might suffer from vertigo, food allergies, or other medical conditions that cause similar symptoms. Consult your doctor.
39) Take the helm. Taking the helm and steering the boat keeps your eyes on the horizon, allows you to change your heading, and keeps you busy. All of which may prevent sea sickness.
40) Clean out your ears. Research suggests that wax build up in your ear contributes to motion sickness. Even if this doesn't work for you, your partner will appreciate the good hygiene!
The good...
The bad...
And the ugly...
41) Keep your head still. Leaning back and keeping your head still is believed by some to help reduce the number of sensory inputs to the brain.
42) Don't hold back. Don't fight getting sick. Stick your fingers down your throat to make yourself throw up. If you can't do that, sit next to someone else who's sick and watch them throw up! That's usually enough to get you going. Also, always go topside and puke to leeward. This is very important. And you'll feel much better afterwards.
43) Have part of your brain removed. A university study (Hoffer - 2003) found that by removing the nodules section of a dog's brain effectively prevented motion sickness. It's also thought that this may be why small children don't get motion sickness, because this part of the brain has yet to develop.
44) Monitor your breathing. Hyperventilating can lead to lightness of head and symptoms of sea sickness. Take deep, controlled breaths. Stay calm. Once a popular treatment, breathing into a paper bag has fallen out of favor with experts.
45) Take a chill pill. Over-the-counter and prescription motion sickness drugs work for some, but others may need something altogether different. You know, like Valium or Diazepam. Prescribed by your doctor. Sedating and addictive!
46) Decongest. Stuffy noses can affect the inner ear. Some suggest Vapo Rub, pepper powder, hot sauce, or wasabi to clear the sinuses, while others swear by over-the-counter decongestants.
47) Get rest. According to research by the US Navy, sleep deprivation interferes with the vestibular apparatus (located in the inner ear) habituation process. I'm not sure what that means, but apparently, lack of sleep exacerbates sea sickness.
48) Try to be more outgoing. Some studies (Kottenhoff & Lindahl - 1960) suggest that motion sickness tends to be greater or more frequent in introverts. They say that it may be be partly due to their being "slower adaptors" (Reason & Graybiel - 1972). Sure.
49) Pinch your ear lobes. This could be sailors' lore, but when you're desperate, it may be worth a try!
50) Rub radish oil behind your ears (see #11). In fact, rub it all over your body and it may help your tan!
51) Try hypnosis. Some swear by it.
52) Wear anti-motion sickness "boarding ring" glasses. The makers of these special glasses claim that they enable your eye to see the "missing movement information," thereby reconciling the difference between the sensory nerves sensing motion with those that do not. There is blue liquid in the glasses' frame that follows the movement of your body. The brain gets the information it needs and is no longer confused. The information is collected in your peripheral vision only, so the glasses will not impede your central, or "volentary" vision. It is intended that you put on the glasses when you begin to get sick, and not before. Probably because they'll make you sick if you wear them when you feel ok! Cost is about $100. Attractive too! Kent and I saw these for sale in the ships chandlery in Martinique.
Lastly, some fun facts (Lawther & Griffin - 1988):
Horses, cows, monkeys, chimpanzees, birds, dogs, and sheep have been reported in scientific studies to show motion sickness.
According to research, 100% of human occupants in life rafts will vomit in rough seas.
60% of air crew members suffer from motion sickness on flights at some point in their training.
7% of seagoing passengers report vomiting during their voyages.
Happy sailing everybody!
A big thank you to John Konrad who contributed a lot this blog posting. John Konrad is a veteran oil rig captain, sailor, and author.
