Car sickness, or motion sickness, is a disorder that leads to headaches, nausea and irritability when traveling by car, train or plane. Let's find out better.

Symptoms and causes of car sickness

If travel companions have a circle that does not go away, nausea and irritability traveling can prove to be a terrible experience. Car sickness in medical terms is called " motion sickness or motion sickness" or "movement sickness". The person suffering from this distress particularly accuses passive movement, such as a trip by car or often also to another means of transport (plane, ship, train).

It is a disorder that involves spatial orientation, ie in which direction and how quickly the body moves. It is accompanied by a feeling of oppression at the level of the temples that conditions the intentions and intentions of the day, a constant headache combined with excessive sensitivity to light or darkness.

The causes of car sickness lie in the ear and in the regulation of balance. In fact, when traveling, the vestibular apparatus sends the perception of the movement of the car to our brain. If you are sitting behind or are intent on reading a book, your eyes will not send the same movement signals, having a limited view of space. In this case, therefore, a confusion of signals is created which stimulate the autonomic nervous system, causing the onset of symptoms of car sickness.

Power in the event of car sickness

In case of car sickness, be careful about what you eat, especially before driving. Better to avoid milk and fruit juices, fizzy drinks before getting in the car.

To take advantage of the antinausea properties of ginger, it is enough to simply chew a small piece of fresh root, if necessary or several times a day. A quantity equal to 500-2000 mg of powdered ginger root before each main meal is enough to obtain excellent results.

Herbal remedies

Ginger ( Zingiber officinalis ), in the form of chewing gum (not under the age of 3), capsules, sweets, biscuits, sweets, drinks is used with this indication. You can also try peppermint, to be inhaled in the form of oil, after having poured a few drops on a handkerchief or in the form of candy, obviously with mint.

Ginger is used as an anti-inflammatory and digestive and is among the most effective antinausea and antivertigo medicines. With ginger you can treat disorders such as car sickness, seasickness, morning sickness.

Its anithemetic properties seem to reside in local effects on the parts of the stomach and intestine. The active ingredients of the plant all concentrate in its root: non-volatile substances, such as gingerols, resins and mucilages. In traditional Far Eastern medicine, ginger is used in the treatment of osteoarthritis, influenza, as a heart stimulant, as a protection for the gastric mucosa.

Bach flowers

Scleranthus is very useful in problems related to balance and calms the sense of vertigo that is unleashed with car sickness. Even Travel, the Australian flower mixture is useful for dealing with the fear of traveling, car sickness and jet lag.

You can learn more about the properties and benefits of Scleranthus

Traditional Chinese medicine for carsickness

Would you ever have said that bracelets against car sickness exploit the principles of Traditional Medicine and Chinese Acupuncture? In fact, a part of the bracelet compresses a precise area of ​​the wrist and the other bracelet placed in the other arm will do the same. The bracelets are also great for adults and for those who prefer not to give more drugs, perhaps because they are already quite medicalized patients.

The precise point is P6, which is located on the inner surface of the forearm, three fingers below the first fold of the wrist.

Essential oils

Aromatherapy always comes back, in case of car sickness, on this precious delicacy which is ginger, thus going to benefit from the essence of the root. The essential oil of this oriental plant offers its scent and its energy also to calm states of anxiety, headache and nausea caused by the car or by the sea.

Just dilute 8 drops of ginger essential oil in 1 tablespoon of sweet almond oil and massage the forehead and temples, or put drops in a handkerchief or cotton pad and sniff deeply.

Homeopathic remedies against car sickness

Even homeopathy has its remedies for car sickness, to be taken as a preventive measure or at the first hint of nausea.

Anamirta cocculus, of the Menispermacee family, contains an alkaloid, the picrotoxin, which used in weight doses generates on the cerebral spinal nervous system a paralysis of the motor nerves, on the female genital apparatus dysmenorrhea with nausea and dizziness, on the digestive system nausea vomit and feeling of dizziness and spasms.

His dosage is indifferent for adults and children: the dosage is used at 5 CH giving 5 granules one hour before leaving and then at the time of departure, then every half hour or every hour to the rhythm of nausea and based on the improvement achieved. The homeopathic remedy Tabacum 9 CH is useful in cases where motion sickness improves with fresh air, for example by lowering the window.

In case of headache crisis, associated with car sickness, the homeopath will advise Nux vomica 7 CH (5 granules, 3 times a day) . If instead it is recurrent headache: Calcarea phosphorica 30 CH (one single dose per week), Natrum muriaticum 15 CH (one single dose per week).

Exercises in case of car sickness

If you feel the first signs of discomfort, ask the driver to slow down and stop, obviously in safe conditions, in a permitted area. It may be useful to get out of the car and take two steps. To avoid sudden and sudden braking: it is better to have at hand some bags for vomiting (as on airplanes) rather than risking a bad collision.

If vomiting has occurred, rest is needed. While you are lying down you can relieve headaches and nausea with this simple exercise:

1. With your hands behind your neck, force your head forward and down, focusing on the feeling of tension at the level of the back muscles of the neck.

2. With one hand on the head, pull the shoulder towards the right and then repeat to the left, still keeping the shoulders firmly.

3. Turn your face upwards very slowly until your head is tilted backwards.

Once the exercises are done, gently massage the upper central part of the forehead with your thumb and then go down to the point that separates the two eyebrows.