user
Create a My Moto account
This is a danger alert—check it out!
Your fullname
Your email address for registration.
Your password for registration.
Confirm your password for registration.
Register Close
Skip to content
Find a services Search site My Moto Menu
google social login facebook social login windows social login
Sign in

Not yet registered? Sign up now | Forgot password

Overlay menu Close Close menu
  • Home
  • Services
  • Journey planner
  • My Moto
  • Brands
  • At Moto
  • Help and support
  • About us
  • Motorway services near you
  • Map of motorway services
  • View all motorway services
  • Business
  • Coach
  • HGV
  • Leisure
  • BP
  • Burger King
  • Chow
  • Costa
  • Greggs
  • KFC
  • Krispy Kreme
  • M&S Food
  • Pret
  • Tesla Superchargers
  • West Cornwall Pasty
  • WHSmith
  • Accommodation
  • Covid-19
  • EV
  • Changing places
  • Fuel
  • Gaming
  • Parking
  • Wifi
  • FAQs
  • Contact us
  • Feedback
  • About Moto
  • ESG
  • Careers
  • News
  • Moto Foundation
  • Home
  • Services
    • Motorway services near you
    • Map of motorway services
    • View all motorway services
  • Journey planner
  • My Moto
    • Business
    • Coach
    • HGV
    • Leisure
  • Brands
    • BP
    • Burger King
    • Chow
    • Costa
    • Greggs
    • KFC
    • Krispy Kreme
    • M&S Food
    • Pret
    • Tesla Superchargers
    • West Cornwall Pasty
    • WHSmith
  • At Moto
    • Accommodation
    • Covid-19
    • EV
    • Changing places
    • Fuel
    • Gaming
    • Parking
    • Wifi
  • Help and support
    • FAQs
    • Contact us
    • Feedback
  • About us
    • About Moto
    • ESG
    • Careers
    • News
    • Moto Foundation

Everywhere you go, take a smile with you moto smile

moto waves
HomeNews Top tips for keeping car sickness at bay this Bank Holiday Weekend
wave

Top tips for keeping car sickness at bay this Bank Holiday Weekend

You’re excited for your big trip, the cars packed, you’re with your best friends and you’ve just set off. But then it starts to happen; you start to go pale and a cold sweat breaks out, you start feeling dizzy and get that familiar acidic taste in your mouth, you ask to pull over but before you know it…BLERGH. Being travel sick can be a real pain, so we’ve come up with the best known ways of avoiding and treating it.

Prevention

  • It’s advised you avoid certain foods before travelling:
    • Foods that don’t agree with you should obviously be avoided.
    • Foods with strong odours aren’t ideal for a long car journey.
    • Foods that are prone to making you feel too full.
    • Foods that are very spicy or high in fat.
  • Where you decide to sit in the car is very important. Avoid facing backwards on your journey. It’s recommend that you sit in a positon where you do not feel as much motion, often in the front seat or over the wheels on a coach.
  • A range of medicines can be used to help prevent travel sickness:
    • Hyoscine – widely used to treat sickness but with side effects of drowsiness, blurred vision and dizziness.
    • Antihistamines – Used to treat symptoms of allergies, it can also help control nausea and vomiting. Although not as effective as Hyoscine, it doesn’t have as many side effects.
  • Drivers are less inclined to feel sick while travelling, it’s believed that because you’re controlling the car your mind can better predict the motion of it. Jump in the driver’s seat and let the road be a welcome distraction.
  • If you really struggle with travel sickness, you can try desensitisation therapy. It works by exposing yourself to what makes you feel sick, reading in a car for example, then building yourself up to longer periods. Your body eventually gets used to it.

Treatment

If you start to feel sick, it’s a good idea to make the driver and other passengers aware. They may need some notice to find somewhere safe to pull over.

  • The first thing you should do if you’re feeling sick is to open a window or vent, fresh air can help alleviate your symptoms.
  • Motion sickness is often caused by objects moving outside, therefore shutting your eyes can help, or better yet, take a nap. Sometimes you can sleep travel sickness off.
  • Ginger is known to alleviate motion sickness – there’s a number of products that contain ginger; tea, biscuits, ale, chews and cookies. Ginger can also be used prior to travelling as a preventative measure.
  • Dry food is known to help soak up excess acid in the stomach which can help people suffering with travel sickness. Soda crackers, breadsticks, dry cereal and pretzels are all said to be effective.
  • You can try acupressure, if you apply pressure to the underside of your wrist it is said to help with nausea. There are also wrist bands available, these have small plastic bumps that apply pressure.
  • Avoid reading or texting as it can make your symptoms worse, instead focus on a fixed point such as the horizon.
  • Keep yourself occupied and distracted, if you think about being sick it can increase that feeling. You can try carrying out a mental task, such as counting backwards from 100 or try focusing solely on your breathing.

Children and dogs

Many of the same rules apply for children, if they are prone to napping try and arrange travel around napping time. Keeping them distracted throughout the journey can be the most effective way of avoiding car sickness. If they’re really struggling, pull over to a safe place and get them to lie on their back with their eyes closed.

When travelling with dogs, stress can be a factor in causing sickness. To make the journey as stress free as possible, check out our previous blog on travelling with your dog. You can tell if your dog is suffering as they begin to whine, excessively drool, become inactive and general look uneasy. Fresh air, distractions, frequent stops and an empty stomach are all effective treatments for car sickness in canines.  Alternately your vet can prescribe motion sickness medication for dogs or you can use a natural pet calmer.

 

wave

Share this story

  • twitter
  • facebook
  • linekdin
Use of your location

Can we use your location to list services near to you?

moto waves
Moto logo

Our purpose is to brighten people's journeys through life

Motorway services
  • Motorway services near you
  • Map of motorway services
  • View all motorway services
Journey planner
  • Plan your journey
Help and support
  • FAQs
  • Contact us
  • Feedback and chat service
Brands
  • BP
  • Burger King
  • Chow
  • Costa
  • Greggs
  • KFC
  • Krispy Kreme
  • M&S Food
  • Pret
  • Tesla Superchargers
  • West Cornwall Pasty
  • WHSmith
At Moto
  • Accommodation
  • Changing places
  • EV
  • Fuel
  • Gaming
  • Parking
  • Wifi
  • BookAPod
My Moto
  • Business
  • Coach
  • HGV
  • Leisure
About Moto
  • ESG
  • News
  • Careers
  • Moto Foundation

Copyright 2022 © Moto Hospitality Ltd

  • Legal - Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies
  • Modern Slavery Statement
  • Gender Pay Gap
  • instagram
  • twitter
  • facebook
moto logo

Our purpose is to brighten people’s journeys through life

moto waves
  • Motorway services
    • Motorway services near you
    • Map of motorway services
    • View all motorway services
  • Journey planner
    • Plan your journey
  • Help and support
    • FAQs
    • Contact us
    • Feedback and chat service
  • Brands
    • BP
    • Burger King
    • Chow
    • Costa
    • Greggs
    • KFC
    • Krispy Kreme
    • M&S Food
    • Pret
    • Tesla Superchargers
    • West Cornwall Pasty
    • WHSmith
  • At Moto
    • Accommodation
    • Changing places
    • EV
    • Fuel
    • Gaming
    • Parking
    • Wifi
    • BookAPod
  • My Moto
    • Business
    • Coach
    • HGV
    • Leisure
  • About Moto
    • ESG
    • News
    • Careers
    • Moto Foundation

Copyright 2022 © Moto Hospitality Ltd

  • Legal - Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies
  • Modern Slavery Statement
  • Gender Pay Gap
  • instagram
  • twitter
  • facebook

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings.

Privacy overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly necessary cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie are enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

These essential cookies do things like:

  • remember the notifications you've seen so we do not show them to you again
  • remember your progress through a form

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.

Insight and analytic cookies

This website uses insight and analytics cookies, such as Google Analytics, to collect anonymous information about site usage.

Keeping these cookies enabled helps us to improve our website.

Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!

Marketing cookies

We use marketing cookies to help us improve the relevancy of communication and marketing campaigns you receive.

Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!

Cookie policy

More information about our cookie policy

How was your visit?