Seasickness. Unfortunately, it’s a sure bet that you will experience this at one point in your sailing life. When it occurs, what should you do to prevent or treat it?
Seasickness develops when your senses get confused. The information processed from your vision is at odds with the information received from your ears (balance). At sea, our ears tell us we are in motion (sailing along – balance is disrupted) but our eyes tell us we are stationary inside the boat. This leads to varying levels of seasickness with symptoms including cold sweats, dizziness, increased saliva, headaches, pale skin, vomiting and drowsiness.
Seasickness Prevention and Treatment
Seasickness remedies work differently from one person to the next. Whilst one crew member might swear that cola and ginger fixes them up, another might find relief in prescription medications. The best thing to do is to try them all and find the one that works best for you.
Don’t forget that the best treatment is an understanding skipper and crew!
Medication should be taken before sailing.
Medications
Anticholinergics (example: Scopolamine) and antihistamines (example: Dimenhydrinate, Cinnarizine and Betahistine) are popular seasickness drugs, and are available from your doctor or pharmacy. Scientific studies have been conducted using these drugs that proved they were effective – definitely better than taking nothing!
Be aware that taking medication will cause side effects such as a dry mouth and drowsiness. You don’t want to fall asleep on watch!
Nutritional Aids
Ginger can help settle the stomach.
Sailors will often have their own home remedies for seasickness. Many of them include different types of food or drink to settle your stomach. Some of the more common ones (not scientifically tested) are:
- Ginger – fresh, biscuits, in tea or sweets
- Cola
- Bananas
- Grapefruit Juice – increases absorption of Scopolamine
- Boiled sweets
- Acupuncture
- Pressure point bands.
Habituation
Repeated short bursts of exposure may make your senses get used to the experience of sailing. Seasickness might be experienced the first few times by some, and then your body becomes adjusted.
Keep Active or Keep Still!
Helming the boat can treat seasickness.
Many sailors find that keeping busy on board helps them to combat seasickness. Helming the boat, trimming the sails and working on deck in the fresh air may help. Some find the opposite works best though, such as controlling your breathing, sitting still and staring at the horizon.
Generally seasickness is unavoidable, however, as you can see above, there are a number of ways to prevent or treat it. Luckily, seasickness normally lasts only a short time with a quick recovery for most people.