Seasickness is a common plight for many people when traveling aboard a sea vessel. In fact about 70% of people experience some sort of seasickness. Why is that and what can be done to alleviate this ailment??
Seasickness has to do with the movement of the boat and the vestibular system. The vestibular system is located in the inner ear and consists of three loops in your ear which are called semicircular canals. These loops are filled with liquid and each one senses a different kind of movement. One senses up and down movement, another side to side, and the last is tilting movement. When you move these send messages to your brain to tell it how you are moving, this is compared to information from your eyes on how you are moving, and thus the brain uses that information to try and retain balance. Seasickness and most kinds of motion related sickness start when the information from your ears, and the information from your eyes do not match. To elaborate, when you are on a boat you are moving both side to side and up and down and your ears communicates this to your brain, however since the cabin of the boat moves in tandem with your body your eyes perceives much less movement then what's actually happening, and your eyes communicate that to brain. Your brain which is receiving contradictory information gets agitated and releases stress hormones which cause nausea, vomiting, and vertigo. For more information about what causes seasickness click here.
So what can be done to alleviate the symptoms of seasickness? The easiest is to get off of the boat, once you are on land your body stops getting mixed messages and thus stops releasing stress hormones. The second is to wait it out, after a few days your body will adjust to the movements and will stop sending the hormones. Of course both of those options are less than ideal so here is better advice. The first is to stay in the center of the boat, this is the most stable area so your ears will receive less motion data. Another is to watch land if it is visible, or the horizon if it is not. This will tell your eyes that you are indeed moving and those signals may help to cause less contradiction in your brain. Both of those strategies have mixed results depending on the person. A more effective strategy is to take an anti-nausea medication like Dramamine. Dramamine is an antihistamine. Antihistamine counteracts the effects of histamines. Histamine is a chemical that your body releases when it senses an allergen, but also is one of any chemicals released when stress. Meaning that taking Dramamine can help alleviate the effects of the stress hormones your body releases. Another effective method is to take ginger in any form. Ginger has proven throughout history to help with nausea though scientists are not sure 100% why. In studies it is found that consuming ginger root is doubly as effective in preventing motion sickness than anti-nausea medication. The current leading theory as to why is that ginger helps to keep your digestive functions stable and your blood pressure consistent, both of which help to relieve nausea. For more information about how ginger relieves nausea click here.
I wish I knew all this before going on the boat and getting super seasick during the shark tagging. The reason behind seasickness was interesting. I never would have thought it was connected to the ear. I assumed it had to do with fluid in the stomach, so my plan of action for the future probably would have been ineffective. I love eating ginger roots and would have invested in one when we went to the grocery store. It will be a great option going forward since I plan to be on boats in the future!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was on the boat being higher on the boat, away from the water level. It eased the symptoms of sea sickness. I wonder if getting further away from the pivot point allows your body to have time to sort out those signals?
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that the ears were what initiated the feeling of seasickness. I assumed it had something to do with the stomach and from whatever was in there moving around. I am glad that I did not have to deal with seasickness during the trip and I feel for those who suffered from it.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who gets really motion sick this was super interesting to read about. Although I have been dealing with motion sickness for years I have never actually looked into the reason behind it. I recently started using remedies such as ginger to ease symptoms of car sickness and I have found that it really works. However, I have not yet found a way to remedy sea sickness, as we all saw during the first dive trip. I definitely plan on being on more boats in the future so hopefully at some point I will figure it out or at least get used to it!
ReplyDeleteHey Kyle,
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that sea sickness was connected the the ear. I've heard before about looking at something that is not moving such as the horizon or land but I never knew the reasoning behind it. I was so upset that I got seasick during our shark tagging trip especially since it rarely happens to me. I took dramamine the night before and that morning and also a ginger chew, but nothing really helped me that day. I noticed that that during both of the boat rides for scuba diving though I was sitting at the front of the boat for most of the ride and didnt feel bad at all. I wonder if staying at the front of the boat also helps to prevent seasickness or if that was just a coincidence.