I often get dizzy usually on a boat, car, amusement rides airplane, even by elevators. What could cause these? Motion Sickness in General
There are many experiences that can cause what is generally termed motion sickness. In addition to being at sea on small boats or large ships, there are plenty of other situations that can bring on motion sickness - in planes, cars, buses, even trains. Roller coasters and other fair rides, and even high impact movies can all trigger motion sickness. All have common causes and effects.
The Causes of Seasickness
MOVEMENT
This is probably obvious. Being at sea on a boat or ship that is moving about a great (or, for some people, not so great) deal, and accelerative/decelerative changes in velocity in general, all can cause sea sickness.
A winding road in a car, air turbulence, or anything else involving the sensation of changes in speed/direction can induce motion sickness.
VISUAL DISORIENTATION
This other cause is not quite so obvious. Visual disorientation and strain. Visual disorientation is when your body senses you are moving, but when your eyes see no movement.
It can also happen the opposite way - for example, in an Imax theatre, you might receive strong visual information suggesting that you're moving, but your body feels no sense of motion. This can also make you ill, but fortunately, there's an easy cure for this - simply close your eyes.
Strain happens when you've having to continually refocus your eyes, for example if trying to read a book in a car and having the distance and line between you and the book constantly changing.
Medical explanation for Motion Sickness:
The symptoms of motion sickness include nausea, vomiting, and dizziness (vertigo). Early signs are paleness, salivating, yawning, sweating and a general feeling of discomfort and not feeling well (malaise).
Motion sickness relates to our sense of balance and equilibrium. Researchers in space and aeronautical medicine call this sense spatial orientation, because it tells the brain where the body is in space - what direction it is pointing, what direction it is moving, and if it is turning or standing still.
Our sense of balance is regulated by a complex interaction of the following parts of the nervous system :
=The inner ears (also called the labyrinth) monitor the directions of motion, such as turning or forward-backward, side-to-side, and up-and- down motions.
=The eyes observe where the body is in space (i.e., upside down, right side up, etc.) and also the directions of motion.
=Skin pressure receptors such as those located in the feet and seat sense what part of the body is down and touching the ground.
=Muscle and joint sensory receptors report what parts of the body are moving.
=The central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord) processes all the bits of information from the four other systems to make some coordinated sense out of it all.
The symptoms of motion sickness appear when the central nervous system receives conflicting messages from the other four systems -- the inner ear, eyes, skin pressure receptors, and the muscle and joint sensory receptors.
For example, imagine you are riding in an airplane during a storm, and the plane is being tossed about by air turbulence. But your eyes do not detect all this motion because all you see is the inside of the airplane. Consequently, your brain receives messages that do not coordinate with each other. You might become air sick. Or suppose you are sitting in the back seat of a moving car reading a book. Your inner ears and skin receptors detect the motion of your travel, but your eyes see only the pages of your book. You could become car sick
Who Gets Seasick
Babies under the age of about two seem immune from seasickness. Children are more susceptible than adults, and the older you get, the more resistant you become (at last - a benefit of growing old!).
The type of motion also has an impact. The most seasick causing motion is one with about a five second cycle of repetition. This might be why some people get sick on big ships (with about a 5 second cycle of moving from one side to the other and back) but not on small boats (which move with much quicker motion periods.
Women seem to be more susceptible to seasickness than men. People of oriental race seem more susceptible than westerners.
How Likely is it You'll Get Seasick on a Cruise
Modern cruise ships are incredibly stable, and their captains do all they can to avoid rough weather, even to the extent of skipping ports and rearranging the itinerary if necessary.
The gargantuan size of a modern cruise ship adds to its stability, and almost every ship is also fitted with stabilizers to cancel out most of the ship's movement.
Best of all, most cruise itineraries have only short periods at sea - often at night, while you're sleeping - alternating with days in ports.
Most people will find modern day cruising comfortable and without any associated sea-sickness.
Getting - and losing - your Sea Legs
If you're on a multi-day cruise, you'll find that eventually - usually within 36 - 72 hours - your body adapts and trains itself to ignore the conflicting messages it is getting. In other words, you have got your sea legs and are no longer susceptible to seasickness.
There is an interesting (and sometimes uncomfortable) opposite to this. You've probably noticed, when stepping back onto land after being at sea, that at first it feels as if the land is moving - this being due to your body automatically anticipating the boat's movement and having to adjust back to the 'normal' that involves no continual motion.
Some people find this 'phantom' movement so real that they become seasick again when they return to shore. This is called 'mal de debarquement' (as opposed to 'mal de mer' or 'mal d'embarquement' for regular seasickness).
MINIMIZING THE CAUSES
Minimizing movement
If you're on a boat, try and get as close to the boat's center of motion as possible. This is in the middle of the boat, close to the waterline. If you are at the bow or stern, you'll experience more motion than amidships. If you're on the port or starboard railing, you'll again get more motion than if you're in the center of the boat. And if you're on the top deck, once again you'll be feeling more pronounced movements than if you're lower down, close to sea-level.
Minimizing visual disorientation
You should focus your eyes at a distant point, preferably the unmoving horizon.
Don't face backwards. This aggravates the feeling of visual disorientation.
If you're unable to look at a far-away and hopefully unmoving point of reference, then closing your eyes might be better than staring at close-by things and adding to the sense of spatial confusion caused by feeling the sensation of movement but with no apparent movement visible.
If nothing else, closing your eyes might help you to relax.
Don't read and don't watch television.
And also
If you are with other people and are embarrassed at feeling unwell, try and find somewhere private where you can suffer stoically and alone. The fear of being sick is a powerful magnifying factor that can make you very much more likely to become sick than if you're not so worried at the thought of possibly being sick.
Some people advocate lying down, and/or closing your eyes. The primary benefit of this is that it might help you to relax, and perhaps even to go to sleep.
Giving yourself a steady stream of cool fresh air definitely helps, although I have no idea why that is. Avoid strong smells in general and the smells of engines and gasoline/diesel in particular.
Try to avoid other travelers who may also be seasick. There's nothing like the sudden and powerful combination of sight, sound, and smell of another passenger vomiting to bring you past the 'point of no return' as well.
Try to be healthy and well, so your body has more natural resistance. Don't be hung over, don't be drinking alcohol, and avoid any food extremes that might give you an upset stomach, even when on dry land. You definitely don't want to have a lot of food and liquid sloshing around in your stomach, so eat and drink in moderate balanced portions.
Try and be well rested.
Lastly, be prepared, so if you do need to be sick, you're able to do so with a minimum of mess. If you use a bag, you should double bag if possible in case one bag has any holes or comes apart at a seam a discrepancy between your eyes and your body, your eyes think you're moving, but your body (specifically the tubes of fluid of your cochlea) say that you're standing still, or vice versa, your brain is getting confused by the mixed messages. happens when the body, inner ear, and eyes all send different signals to the brain, resulting in confusion and queasiness. It is a problem generally attributed to disturbance in the balance system of the inner ear (vestibular) system. Your sensory perception gets out of synch as these nerve fibers attempt to compensate for the unfamiliar motion of the ship moving through water. |
