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On June 9th, I decided to go visit the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, it was an interesting experience being able to swim with the fishes and see a lot of corals but what I wasn’t expecting was a severe bout of Seasickness on the way back. This proves my own personal theory that I am not a descendant of any great maritime explorers, I was at ocean for only 8 hours on a 30ft catamaran with 25 knot winds… I can only imagine how it would feel like immigrating to North America via wooden boat in the ocean for months!

What is Seasickness?

Also known as Mal de Mer, seasickness is basically motion sickness, it affects people not only in boats, you can get it in the car, plane and even on trips to the International Space Station! What drove me crazy is that others on the boat where having a great time, sipping champaign and eating really good food while I felt like I got hit by a Mac Truck. It also hit me fast, one minute I was fine, the next I was finding out how much food was left to be digested in my stomach.

What does Seasickness feel like?

We are now July 10th and I still feel a little bit under the weather, the only thing I can compare it to is a wicked hangover. The only difference is that instead of the “spinning” effect getting drunk on alcohol provides, an equally nauseating “rolling” wave action is felt when you lie down. The nice thing about seasickness is that once you remove the cause, the symptom almost disappear right away. In my case, I was happy to be on dry land again, but the effects of throwing up a few times tied in with a few hours of snorkeling under the hot sun probably lead me to becoming dehydrated. As a result, I was wiped out physically, I slept great but still have some effects today.

Does Motion Sickness only affect wimps?

I wouldn’t think so but who knows, the weaker your body, the more prone you are to motion sickness, the fact that up to 50% of astronauts use some medication to prevent motion sickness can be interpreted either way.

What causes Seasickness?

Seasickness, as with motion sickness, is caused by brain confusion. Your eyes, inner ear and body are all giving different signals to the brain, as a result, it doesn’t know what the hell to do but turn you into an instant bulimic. You would have thought a natural response would be to sleep but the brain works in wonderful ways sometimes.

How to cause Seasickness

Stick yourself in a situation where you are surrounded by items that are not moving while you are moving, great place to start is below deck on a very small boat. The more enclosed the area without views of the horizon, the better… be sure to throw in a few jolts here and there, again, while neither you nor your direct environment show any signs of movement. Now you know how to prevent it! There are medications out there such as Gravol that work towards preventing motion sickness, in hind sight, that is what I should have taken before my trip out to the Great Barrier Reef!

The Bottom Line

Seasickness is easy to avoid, just don’t go out at Sea!

Reference
http://seasickness.co.uk