Our long, supposed to be refreshing beach trips or boat parties usually end up being a disappointment because of two major problems that we do not take precautions for: the sun and motion sickness.
These two often occur on trips and parties when we least expect them to. Before serious sun damage and motion sickness can ruin your sailing trips, here are a couple of motion sickness remedies and sun protection tips that you can use.
What causes motion sickness?
Motion sickness occurs when your brain is getting too many signals. When you are traveling in a car or a bus, you see different things, your muscles act differently, and you experience multiple forces on your body (randomly going from up and down and right to left). When your brain cannot take in all the mixed signals at once, you end up feeling sick.
Symptoms
Symptoms include:
- Headaches
- Nausea
- Dizziness
- Paleness
- Fatigue
- Feeling uncomfortable
Prevention
Motion sickness can be very annoying and a total mood spoiler. Make sure to use some of the tips and remedies to prevent motion sickness before you go ahead with your plans:
- Try to avoid consuming any sorts of alcoholic drinks, or caffeine, and avoid larger heavy meals. Stay hydrated and drink lots of water
- Stay put in one place. If you’re on a boat, take a seat at the center of the deck and face the direction you’re going
- Close your eyes and keep your head still
- Use some distractions. Music, small meals, or snacks can help. Avoid reading or watching a screen, it will increase the sickness.
- Sodas usually help people overcome motion sickness. Ginger ale is a natural soda that can effectively decrease your sickness.
- Fresh and cool air can help relieve sickness. However, if the air has some sort of bad smell, it can trigger nausea and sickness even more.
- Motion sickness bands are available almost everywhere. These put pressure on your pressure points that help reduce the sickness. Even if you are a person with sea legs and know that being on a boat or yacht will not cause any sickness, you can still keep some bands with you for emergencies.
How can the sun spoil your trip?
When you come in direct contact with sun rays, it can cause your skin to burn in a manner beyond your expectations. Sunburns are the major consequence of going under the sun without protection. Sunburns refer to a radiation burn that results from exposure to ultraviolet rays of the sun. The symptoms of sunburn include reddish skin, nausea, tiredness, and headaches. If this happens along with your motion sickness, it will be very difficult to tackle.
Protection from sun damage
While motion sickness is something that goes away after some time, sun damage can last long. Here’s what you can do:
- Wear protective clothing that does not allow a lot of your skin to be exposed to the sun. Pack long sleeved t-shirts or full pants/trousers instead of short shorts are recommended.
- Stay hydrated.
- To protect yourself from sunburn, always keep a sunscreen or a sunblock with at least 30-40 level of SPF. This can be in the form of spray or cream, although creams are better. A lip balm with some amount of SPF can also provide your lips with a protective layer.
- Sunglasses and a hat would be great! You can prevent damage to your skin while also being stylish.
- One of the major side effects of antibiotics is that it makes your skin sensitive to the sun. It is recommended to stay out of the sun while you’re on antibiotics.
