Looking for ways to prevent your next boat trip from ending in misery due to seasickness? We’ve got some great remedies that will quell your nausea thanks to our years on the water. Some of these tips have been used by sailors for hundreds of years. First, it may help you to understand why people experience seasickness. Nausea and vomiting on the water are caused by a miscommunication between your brain and your body. Your body feels the motion of the boat, but your eyes are telling your brain that you’re not moving if you’re looking at the boat itself. Many of these tips either rely on helping your body understand the movement of the boat or simply settling your stomach to stop the feelings of nausea. While seasickness won’t threaten your health or cause any lasting issues, it can certainly ruin an otherwise wonderful day on the water. Read on for our favorite ways to prevent nautical nausea.
Look at the Horizon
This tip is an old standby for those prone to motion sickness: it helps your brain understand what’s going on if, instead of keeping your eyes on objects inside the boat, you look to the horizon ahead instead. How can something so simple help end your seasickness? It causes the signals your brain receives from your eyes match those received from your body and helps you to start feeling better immediately.
Talk Yourself Up
Did you know that it’s been proven that anxiety about getting queasy can actually cause you to experience seasickness? Try the power of positive thinking: simply telling yourself that you won’t get seasick and taking a few deep breaths of fresh air can really help a lot, especially for kids. It sounds crazy, we know, but try it out next time you start to feel queasy on the water and don’t have any of these other remedies close at hand. In the same vein of tips, try to focus on something else, like the feeling of breathing fresh air and the wind on your face. If you’re laser-focused on any twinge of sensation, you can trick your brain into creating a sensation of sickness that wasn’t originally there.
Get a Healthy Start
Many people think they can prevent nausea and vomiting on a boat by not eating beforehand, but this simply isn’t true. We recommend getting a great night’s sleep before you set out on your adventure (exhaustion is a strong precursor to experiencing seasickness) and settling your stomach with light, healthy food. Any food that causes a heavy feeling in your stomach or an upset stomach is probably not a good choice. We recommend a light and non-greasy breakfast before you set out.
Snack on Some Ginger
While science hasn’t quite figured out how ginger works to subdue seasickness, humans have known that this is one of the best seasickness remedies since their first days exploring the oceans. If you’re okay with the taste of ginger, try ginger cookies, lollipops, and chewing gum. If it’s not a favorite flavor of yours, you can buy over-the-counter ginger capsules in any pharmacy to help yourself stay settled. Ginger ale and anything with peppermint in it may soothe you too.
Other Over-the-Counter Products
There are many anti-nausea and motion sickness products available from your pharmacy. Many work by soothing the nerves that panic when your brain receives mixed signals and can be a great help to those prone to motion sickness. Just be aware of the side effects of these medications and potential health risks; we usually prefer to stick to natural cures instead except in extreme cases. And if you’re hoping to trick your brain, just having these medications on the boat with you may soothe you and keep you from experiencing nausea. Another pharmacy product that we prefer to these medications is seasickness bands. These bands are widely available and are worn on your wrist. They apply pressure to acupuncture points that can help you feel better or stop those bad days before they even begin.
Plan Your Route Accordingly
We highly recommend using one of the most common-sense methods to stay comfortable if you’re prone to dizziness on the ocean: simply avoid turbulent areas! If you’re planning your own trip, this will require some research. Check out our favorite boating apps to see a couple that will alert you to rough seas and bad weather while you’re planning your adventure. If you’re boating with 321, just let us know that a member of your party is likely to get sick in rough seas, and we’ll help you plan a trip that will avoid any questionable areas.
We hope these ideas will help you experience better days on the water! Try them all out and find the ones that work for you; you may need to implement more than one method to completely end your queasy feelings on the water, but it’s worth the trial-and-error process to enjoy your time spent boating more.