How to Prevent and Treat Airsickness
If you’re prone to motion sickness, you’re probably no stranger to air sickness. Air sickness is motion sickness while flying, and it has the power to ruin your whole day. What causes this awful feeling, and how can you prevent it from ruining your big plans? The students taking Sheffield’s dispatcher course are certainly not strangers when it comes to air travel, so we bring you good news: we’ve got the remedy on how to prevent and treat airsickness.
Common Symptoms of Airsickness
- Nausea
- Headache
- Fatigue
- Chills
- Sweating
- Salivation
- Vomiting
- Yawning
- Dizziness
What Causes Airsickness?
Your inner ear! While flying on an airplane, your eyes tend to adjust to the movement as if you’re barely moving. However, your inner ear actually reacts to the movement in relation to gravity and sends the signals to your brain. This conflict confuses the body, which makes you feel some of the common symptoms we’ve listed above.
How Can You Stop Airsickness Before It Starts?
- Dramamine is an over-the-counter preventative drug that can help with motion sickness while flying. Although this medication can cause severe drowsiness, it can help you sleep through your flight instead of feeling the unfortunate common symptoms.
- Eat food that is low in sodium and fat a few hours before your flight. Skip the greasy foods that can upset your stomach on any regular day. Also, don’t fly on an empty stomach.
- Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated.
- Pick a safe seat, such as one closer to the front of the airplane. The further back you go, the bumpier the flight can be.
- Consuming ginger by drinking ginger ale or chewing on hard ginger candies can relax your digestive system.
- Avoid reading books during your flight. By reading, you’re adding more movement to your equilibrium, which can cause greater confusion to your body and increase your symptoms.
How to Alleviate Airsickness If You’re Feeling It Already
- Get fresher air by allowing for the air flow from the vents to hit your face and body.
- Look outside at the fixed point on the horizon and try to keep your head as still as possible.
- Focus your attention on something else to get your mind off of feeling motion sickness while flying.
- Club soda and diet soda make great stomach settlers if you don’t have access to ginger ale. However, don’t drink too fast – you don’t want the bubbles to upset your stomach even more.
- Control your breathing by taking slow and deep breaths. This will help you engage the part of your nervous system that calms you down.
- Stand up if you’re feeling too queasy to help your body establish a sense of balance.
Getting over motion sickness while flying can take some time. However, if you follow the guidelines above from the experts at our aeronautics school you may be able to avoid airsickness as a whole.
