After a long morning in the galley losing our breakfast, our group listened as my brother who was drinking a beer and holding a 20-pound Bluefish explained why he wasn’t seasick. Afterward, the Captain told us the best way to stop Sea Sickness is to prevent it before it comes with a few proven remedies that are known in the Industry one of them was the Fisherman’s Cure. How do you prevent motion and seasickness?
To prevent Motion & Seasickness:
- Eat right before a Boat Trip
- Stay Calm/Hydrated & Avoid Alcohol
- Stay on Deck-Keep your gaze on horizon
- Use Dramamine
- Wear Acupuncture Bands-Transderm Scop/Zofran Patch
- Minimize Visualization Disorientation
- Minimize Movement-Stay center & Low in the Boat
- Use Pressure Point #6
When we made the Head Boat it was questionable if the Captain would take us out. He waited for a while got another cup of coffee and told us to load up, we would go out. Two hours into the trip heading south, towards Cape May for Bluefish, things got worse. Some of us were losing our breakfast. Soon all of us were hanging over the rails.
How to Prevent Sea Sickness and Avoid Motion Sickness
Knowing how to avoid such discomfort ensures a good time on the open water. Research into the causes and solutions for motion sickness has shown that it’s a mismatch between what your eyes see and what your inner ear does, which helps with balance, and senses. We’ll cover practical ways to prevent motion sickness and the signs to look out for when aboard. Drinking plenty of fluids is crucial, as dehydration can worsen symptoms.
However, it’s important to avoid alcohol, which can disrupt your brain’s ability to cope with motion. Set your sights on the horizon to help orient your senses and reduce the risk of becoming seasick. If a queasy feeling arises, breathe deeply and stay on deck where there’s fresh air. By employing these strategies and focusing on your health, you’re well on your way to avoiding seasickness and enjoying your time at sea.
Embarking on a seafaring adventure often brings about the excitement of travel but also the dread of potential seasickness. Those rolling waves can stir up more than just water; they can churn your stomach into a queasy state. However, you’re in luck, as there are proven strategies to prevent motion sickness, ensuring your trip is memorable for all the right reasons. What’s essential is grasping how to avoid motion sickness from the get-go.
To avoid seasickness, consider acclimating to the ocean’s rhythm before setting sail and use seasickness bands that apply pressure to certain points on the wrist to alleviate nausea. Prevention is key, and that means keeping your eyes fixed on the horizon, munching on ginger-infused snacks to naturally prevent nausea, and staying well-hydrated. If you’re questioning how to prevent motion sickness, a solid plan includes consulting with a healthcare provider about preventative medication well before your travel dates. By employing these prevention tactics, you’ll stand a better chance at side-stepping the uncomfortable symptoms of motion sickness and thoroughly enjoying your ocean escapades.
Strategies On How to Avoid Seasick and Motion Sickness Symptoms
Sea sickness can be quite uncomfortable, but there are several strategies you can try to minimize or avoid it altogether. Here’s a list of tips to help prevent seasickness: 
- Choose the Right Seat: If you’re on a boat, try to sit near the center of the vessel, where motion is typically less pronounced.
- Look at the Horizon: Keep your gaze fixed on the horizon. This can help your brain reconcile the motion of the boat with a stable reference point.
- Fresh Air: Stay in well-ventilated areas to reduce any odors that may contribute to nausea. Being outside in the fresh air can also help.
- Stay Hydrated: Dehydration can worsen symptoms, so make sure to drink plenty of water.
- Avoid Strong Smells: Steer clear of strong odors, whether it’s from the engine, food, or other sources.
- Choose the Right Food: Eat light, non-greasy meals before and during the journey. Avoid heavy, spicy, or overly rich foods.
- Ginger: Ginger is known for its anti-nausea properties. Consider ginger candies, ginger tea, or ginger supplements.
- Acupressure Bands: Some people find relief from sea sickness by using acupressure wristbands.
- Medications: Over-the-counter motion sickness medications or prescription drugs can be effective. Consult with a healthcare professional before taking any medication.
- Preventative Measures: If you know you’re prone to seasickness, take preventative measures before the journey, such as medications or natural remedies.
- Stay Calm: Anxiety can exacerbate symptoms, so try to stay calm and focused on positive thoughts.
- Practice Controlled Breathing: Deep, slow breaths can help relax your body and alleviate symptoms.
It’s essential to experiment with different strategies and find what works best for you, as individuals may respond differently to these methods.
Remedies For Motion Sickness
Minimize your visual disorientation, in other words, look at the Horizon. Focus on the farthest distant point. Because the horizon doesn’t move and is fixed. You can concentrate on it and your perception of where you start to change. It’s a mental process and you need to focus on it which makes it a little hard if you’re losing your cookies at the same time.
So be proactive and prevent yourself from getting sick. Don’t look down on the ground or at your feet. If you can’t see the horizon from your location close your eyes for a while and see how that affects your sense of motion. Never look down.
I sense some of this seasickness is psychological (not all but some) and has to do with the loss of control and a little panic going on with your senses
This was something I heard about a long time ago that is part of Chinese Acupuncture medicine. and is related to pressure point Number 6 which is between the two tendons that connect muscle to your bone. This pressure point is the one they use to relieve nausea and vomiting.
It is also similar to the control my brother told me about except he uses a rubber band. The idea is that these things help to prevent seasickness. There is no cure only prevention and some relief remedies that people have come up with in the past centuries like the Chinese Acupuncture Remedy.
The Pressure Point #6
- Position your hand so that your fingers are pointing up and your palm is facing you.
- To find pressure point P-6, place the first 3 fingers of your opposite hand across your wrist (see Figure 1). Then, place your thumb on the inside of your wrist just below your index finger (see Figure 2). You should be able to feel 2 large tendons (tissue that connects muscles to bones) under your thumb. This is pressure point P-6.
- Use your thumb or forefinger to press on this point for 2 to 3 minutes. Use a circular motion. Be firm, but don’t press so hard that it hurts.
- Repeat the process on your other side
Here are some Natural Remedies For Not Getting Motion Sickness
Some of these remedies you may have heard of from your mother or maybe your grandmother when driving in the car on long trips could have been an issue for some of us when we were kids.
Ginger: Ginger is known for its anti-nausea properties. You can try ginger candies, ginger tea, or ginger supplements to alleviate motion sickness. 
Peppermint: Peppermint can help soothe the stomach. Consider using peppermint candies, tea, or essential oil (aromatherapy).
Rubber Bands: These wristbands apply pressure to specific points on your wrists and can be effective in reducing motion sickness symptoms.
Hydration: Stay well-hydrated by drinking water. Dehydration can worsen motion sickness symptoms.
Fresh Air: Ensure good ventilation and seek fresh air. Opening windows or being on the deck of a ship can help.
Focus on the Horizon: Keep your eyes on the horizon to help your body adjust to the motion.
Prevent Strong Smells: Avoid strong odors, as they can contribute to nausea. Fresh air and mild scents can be more tolerable.
Medications: Over-the-counter medications such as Dramamine or Meclizine can be effective. Consult with a healthcare professional before using any medication, especially if you have underlying health conditions.
Preventative Measures: If you know you’ll be in a situation that might induce motion sickness, take preventive measures like getting a good night’s sleep and avoiding heavy meals.
Mindful Breathing: Practice deep, slow breathing to help relax your body and alleviate symptoms.
It’s essential to experiment and find what works best for you, as different remedies may work for different individuals. If symptoms persist or are severe, it’s advisable to consult with a healthcare professional for personalized advice.
What is the Best Medication to Avoid and Prevent Motion Sickness
For children, seasickness or motion sickness will last around 4 hours the same as for adults. Try and lie down and take sips of water. If you don’t have access to Sea bands are wrist bands that use Pressure Point Acupuncture bands that are sold in Pharmacies then use the Physical Pressure Point #6 applying pressure to the area above the wrist shown in the diagram above. They should be purchased before you go but better late than never. The bands are more of a preventative.
Cures for Seasickness have been around for many years as long as there have been people riding on boats. There are many homemade types of remedies but once you are afflicted there is not much for someone to do but ride it out.
Some cures seem to work on some people and not on others. Scientific research has been done on the causes and the sickness only lasts for around 4 hours.
Scientists have tried to simulate how some people get sick by building a chair that mimics a boat in the water which didn’t go too well. One oral medicine was developed and was to be taken after you got sick. That didn’t work because the patient ended up throwing it up.
The Transderm-Scop patch is placed behind your ear and worn for up to 72 hours at a time. After 72 hours you replace it with another one if necessary, and it is suggested you alternate patches, one on your left side and then one on the right side.
Embracing Prevention with Acupressure Bands and Motion Sickness Medication
Transderm Scop (transdermal scopolamine) is an anticholinergic drug patch applied to the skin used to prevent nausea and vomiting caused by motion sickness or from anesthesia given during surgery. Side effects of Transderm Scop include dry mouth, dry or itchy eyes, drowsiness, dizziness, feeling restless, and memory problems.
Reliefband Premier Anti-Nausea Wristband| FDA Cleared Nausea & Vomiting Relief for Anxiety, Migraine, Motion Sickness (Car, Air, Train, Sea), Hangover & Morning 
Sickness | Drug-Free (Charcoal) available through Amazon Zofran (ondansetron) is a antiemetic and selective 5-HT3 receptor antagonist prescribed for the treatment of nausea and vomiting due to cancer chemotherapy and is also used to prevent and treat nausea and vomiting after surgery. Zofran is available in generic form and has side effects.
Over-the-counter drugs like Benadryl is a diphenhydramine-based product and is similar to Dramamine. It would be best if you took these before you get sick as a preventative to getting sick. Then there are the Homeopathic treatments that are natural and Doctors don’t have much faith in them.
Trip Ease –is a safe remedy for motion sickness for people who travel. Active ingredients are things like Sodium borate, and Cocculus Indicus, extracted from the Cocculus berry.
Besides the regular Acupuncture Band, there is the Magnetic Acupuncture Band that works like the other band but uses the hidden powers of the magnet along with the acupuncture at the P-6 point.
The newest band called The Electric Acupuncture Band is worn in the same place as a regular band, but a battery delivers a pulsed mild electric shock to your arm (you adjust the level until your fingers mildly tingle) which supposedly helps to calm your stomach. It seems that the only way to deal with Motion/sickness is to use some preventative measures that can stop it before it starts. But hold on there are some food sources that can help.
Why Do People Get Seasick and Not Motion Sick
The motion sickness part of it affects your sense of balance and equilibrium. Scientists researching astronauts in space 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.
This information is regulated by the inner ears also called the labyrinth which monitors the directions of motion, such as turning or forward-backward, side-to-side, and up-and-down motions. Also, the Eyes help record messages to the brain about where your body is at the time.
Your skin has receptors that send messages to your brain where your feet and hands are touching. Muscles, joints, and your entire nervous system all make up this complex group that is recording the world you are in.
The symptoms of motion or seasickness appear when the central nervous system receives conflicting messages and bits of confusing information and tries to make sense of it all. Which sounds psychological to me.
Scientists say at least 25% of the population gets seasick although they say that number is low because people think it’s a sign of weakness if you get ill from any type of motion sickness. Researchers believe that Motion Sickness is Strongly genetic If one parent has it, 50% of the children will have it.
Sea sickness, also known as motion sickness, occurs when there is a conflict between the visual and vestibular (inner ear) sensory inputs related to motion. The sensory organs responsible for detecting motion send conflicting signals to the brain, leading to symptoms of nausea, dizziness, and discomfort. Several factors contribute to the development of seasickness:
- Conflicting Sensory Signals: When you’re on a moving vessel like a boat, the inner ear detects motion, but your eyes may see a stable environment (such as the interior of the ship). This conflict between the sensory signals confuses the brain and can trigger motion sickness.
- Inability to Anticipate Motion: When you’re inside a vehicle or on a boat, you may not be able to predict its movements accurately. This lack of anticipation can contribute to motion sickness.
- Inner Ear Sensitivity: Some individuals are more sensitive to motion than others due to variations in the responsiveness of their vestibular system.
- Visual Focus: Reading or looking at objects within the vehicle or boat can contribute to motion sickness, as the eyes are focused on a stationary object while the body is in motion.
- Vestibular System Mismatch: The vestibular system, responsible for balance and spatial orientation, may send signals to the brain that don’t match the visual input, leading to confusion and nausea.
- Odors and Scents: Strong odors, especially those associated with the vehicle or sea environment, can trigger or exacerbate motion sickness.
- Individual Susceptibility: Some people are more prone to motion sickness than others. Factors such as age, previous experiences, and overall health can influence susceptibility.
- Anxiety and Stress: Emotional factors, such as anxiety or stress, can contribute to motion sickness. The brain’s response to stress may exacerbate symptoms.
- Dehydration: Being dehydrated can worsen symptoms of motion sickness, so it’s essential to stay hydrated.
- Fatigue: Tiredness and fatigue can make an individual more susceptible to motion sickness.
While motion sickness is common, its severity and triggers can vary among individuals. Some people may experience it only in specific situations, while others may be more prone to motion sickness in various environments. Fortunately, there are preventive measures and remedies, as mentioned in previous responses, to help alleviate or avoid motion sickness symptoms.
Everyone knows that once it starts there is no dealing with vomiting so these home remedies are not cures and are feeling the effects from seasickness, I ain’t going to put anything in my mouth or swallow it. Let’s Go Fishing!
References:
How to beat Motion Sickness Web MD
Tips for Beating Motion Sickness One Medical
Motion Sickness Remedies to Ease Nausea: Healthline
FAQ’s
Q: How can I prevent seasickness before going on a sea voyage?- To fend off seasickness, start by getting accustomed to the motion of the ocean before your voyage; wear acupressure wristbands to mitigate nausea, and make ginger snacks your go-to munchable. Keep your gaze locked on the horizon to orient your senses, consult a healthcare provider about preventative medication, and remember—hydration is your ally, but give alcohol a wide berth.
Q: What are the best strategies to use during my sailing adventure to avoid seasickness?-While you’re on open waters, make sure to sip on fluids to stave off dehydration, fix your eyes on the distant line where the sky meets the sea to stabilize your inner equilibrium and breathe deeply if you sense any stomach unrest. Choose the deck for some quality time with the fresh sea breeze, and if you’re feeling under the weather, literally look at it—it helps!
Q: Is there a non-medical way to prevent motion sickness on a boat- Indeed there is! Slip on a pair of acupressure bands that press against certain points on your wrist. This pressure can squeeze the seasickness away as effectively as a friendly Kraken, minus the tentacles and the terror. It’s a non-invasive, drug-free tactic to keep the queasiness at bay.
Q: Can I combine different methods to prevent seasickness? Absolutely! Summon an armory of seasickness prevention by pairing those handy-dandy acupressure bands with over-the-counter or prescribed motion sickness meds. Combining these techniques is like summoning the sea gods of stability—you’ll not only prevent the distress of motion sickness but also ensure a more joyful journey.
Q: What should I look out for to prevent getting seasick while onboard?-Keep an eye out for the early rumblings of seasickness, such as a slight stomach flutter or a sudden interest in the patterns on your shoes. At these signs, commandeer your preventive measures: hydrate, avoid alcohol (it whispers sweet nothings to your brain, which it can’t handle while cruising), affix your gaze to the horizon’s unwavering line, and gulp air on the deck like it’s going out of style. Prepare to engage your inner sea legs with these savvy strategies and chart a course for a splendid seafaring saga.
