Dealing with motion sickness

I was reading about motion sickness the other day, and reflecting on my own experiences with it - largely as a part of flying low-level search and rescue in small airplanes in turbulent conditions around mountains. I’ve handed bag after bag to big, grownup men in the backseat of a Cessna 210. I’ve also had to deal with youngsters who go queasy in the backseat of a moving car.

The cause of motion sickness, according to WebMD:

“Motion sickness occurs when the inner ear, the eyes, and other areas of the body that detect motion send conflicting messages to the brain. One part of your balance-sensing system (your inner ear, vision, and sensory nerves that help you keep your balance) may indicate that your body is moving, while the other parts do not sense motion. For example, if you are in the cabin of a moving ship, your inner ear may sense the motion of big waves, but your eyes don’t see any movement. This leads to a conflict between the senses and results in motion sickness.”

The best cure for motion sickness is to prevent it.

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