Four simple but effective tips to help avoid motion sickness.

For those prone to motion sickness, traveling by public transport such as coaches, buses, or even private cars is a torment. Besides dizziness and discomfort, motion sickness also significantly impacts their mental state; sometimes just seeing a vehicle can trigger nausea.

Here are some simple, drug-free ways to reduce motion sickness, according to experts:

Don't look at the moving traffic.

Motion sickness is a common disorder affecting the inner ear. It's caused by repetitive movements from vehicles or any movement that impacts the inner ear. As a result, many people experience nausea or vomiting when traveling by car.

One tip to avoid this is to not follow the traffic or moving objects on the road with your eyes, but instead focus on a fixed point in the distance, such as a building ahead, a road sign, or even the horizon.

Additionally, when getting on the bus, you should close your eyes and take a nap throughout the journey, from the start to the end, to forget about the unpleasant feeling of nausea.

Avoid reading books or using your phone.

Just as it's important to take your eyes off the moving traffic, it's equally important to ignore it. Distracting yourself with some music, audiobooks, or podcasts can be a great way to forget you're in a car.

You should avoid reading books or looking at your phone screen because this can actually make things worse. Someone reading a book in the back seat of a car will have their eyes fixed on the book. When the car goes around corners or changes speed, their nervous system and inner ear register the movement, making them more prone to nausea and motion sickness.

Choose a suitable seat.

According to research, when traveling by bus, people prone to motion sickness should sit in the front or middle rows instead of the back rows, as these are areas with strong movement and noise (from the engine, rear tires, etc.). For buses with seats facing backward, these are also positions that people susceptible to motion sickness should avoid.

When traveling in a car, sitting in the passenger seat allows you to easily see straight ahead in the direction the car is moving. This helps minimize the disruption and interference of information between your eyes and inner ears, thereby reducing symptoms of motion sickness.

Use ginger

Finally, one simple tip to combat motion sickness is to consume ginger about 1-2 hours before traveling. Scientists believe that the gingerol and shogaol compounds in ginger help reduce nausea and stabilize blood pressure.

This spice also has anti-inflammatory properties, improves digestion, and helps release hormones that regulate blood pressure to calm the body.

Ginger is used to treat nausea in many forms, from fresh, dried, powdered, processed into drinks, capsules, or essential oil extracts. You can drink sliced ​​fresh ginger tea about 1-2 hours before departure for best results.