Rest turned into disease >>>> Nauseous on the plane - what to do?

Nauseous on the plane - what to do?

Extensive flying experience (starting at a year and a half) has become the reason for writing some useful tips for those who feel nauseous on the plane.

There are several reasons for airplane nausea:

First, when you enter the aircraft cabin and you start to feel nauseous (turbid) from the atmosphere (air) in the cabin, which has a specific smell due to the presence of internal synthetic interior trim, seat upholstery and the feeling of a stagnant atmosphere in a poorly ventilated room. Similar sensations can arise when boarding long-distance buses, so the instructions will be useful even in case of long travel by bus.
Second, when the plane takes off and your vestibular apparatus refuses to adjust to the acceleration with which the air vehicle is forced to lift off the ground.
Third, when the plane is landing, and your digestive tract leads you to the most unpleasant physiological processes - indomitable nausea and vomiting.

It is one thing to suppress the gag reflex, and quite another thing to prevent its occurrence.

By learning how to overcome any of the reasons for nausea on the plane, you can turn the flight into entertainment, not torment.

What to do to avoid feeling nauseous on the plane:

Firstly, the unpleasant smell of the atmosphere of the cabin of an airplane (or long-distance bus) is just unpleasant associations of smell with nausea and a gag reflex instinctively fixed in the brain, which work as a protective reaction of the body - the brain reminds you that this is a “nauseous space " and actually creates psychologically unpleasant conditions for you to be in it. This reflex is akin to toxicosis during pregnancy or intoxication in case of poisoning - the same mechanism of subconscious memory for smells and the corresponding reaction to them.

In order to overcome such sickening sensations, it is enough to inhale periodically aromas with pleasant associations while in the cabin of the plane (bus) - you can take solid perfume, chewing gum with a pleasant smell, a bag of coffee beans (or even an empty bag from under coffee) or a special paper flavor and feel free to use their aromas to trick the sense of smell. Gradually, the brain will fix pleasant associations in its memory, and the smell of the passenger compartment will stop provoking nausea in you.

Secondly, our body is a physiological system that knows how to rebuild its functions and adapt to changes in the environment, including how to learn to withstand unusual physical activity, but only if they are repeated many times. This means that discomfort (nausea and dizziness, provoking a gag reflex) during takeoff, associated with an accelerated climb (which is unusual for a person who does not regularly climb high into the mountains) can be overcome only by repetition of such loads in everyday life. and not just during periods of air travel.

What exactly causes dizziness and nausea when climbing high?

One of the reasons is the lack of training of the vestibular apparatus, which at the moment of imbalance will begin to provoke dizziness and, as a result, nausea.

In order to prevent dizziness and nausea from developing during takeoffs, it is enough in ordinary daily life to frequent such entertainment as “boat” swings (they imitate high-altitude climb) and carousels (make the vestibular apparatus quickly adapt to changing conditions). The view wheel will not work as it rises slowly. But the "centrifuge" carousel is what the vestibular apparatus needs for training, but this carousel is suitable only for people with already trained vestibular apparatus to some extent.

Congestion in the ears has nothing to do with the gag reflex. This is just a feeling of the difference between the pressure of the atmosphere of the environment - the barometric pressure and the pressure in the closed cavity of the inner ear (with a rise upward, the barometric pressure outside the aircraft drops, but in the closed cavity of the inner ear it remains the same, the difference between the pressure causes the eardrum to bend outward, and as a result, ear congestion and pain syndrome. When the flight is equalized, the difference between the pressure outside the ear (or rather outside the aircraft) and inside the ear disappears. With a sharp descent of the aircraft downward, a similar situation occurs, but the pressure outside will rise in comparison with the pressure of the atmosphere in the cavity the inner ear and will cause the eardrum to sink inward - it seems to be pulled into the cavity, and as a result - ear congestion and pain. The development of congestion in the ears at the time of takeoff and landing can provoke dizziness and, again, nausea.

To prevent your ears from getting blocked when atmospheric pressure changes, keep your mouth open and make sucking movements with your tongue, imitating sucking on a lollipop. In such cases, children are given a lollipop, and babies - a pacifier, periodically pulling it out of the mouth so that the baby opens his mouth. The fact is that a person instinctively engages the chewing muscles in moments of nervous tension or pain and tries to close the jaws - "lock the teeth", and this closes the air space, preventing atmospheric pressure and pressure inside the ear to even out.

The second of the reasons is the increasing blood pressure, which is directly related to the accelerating work of the heart muscle and chemical changes in the composition of the blood (special mediators that signal the body about the changed conditions of atmospheric exposure to the body). This effect often occurs in normal conditions, when barometric pressure changes, and meteorological people begin to feel bad. People is adapted to experience certain levels of pressure in the Earth's atmosphere, but their change will certainly affect the general state of the body. So any unusual climb to a height, even on foot, will provoke an accelerated work of the myocardium and a feeling that the pulse is pounding in the ears. In an airplane, a sharp climb (and otherwise it cannot take off) is quite capable of provoking an increase in blood pressure, and as a result, congestion in the ears, dizziness and nausea (gag reflex).

This is how the vestibular apparatus and the cardiovascular system react to rising up.

To prevent an increase in blood pressure during takeoff, it is necessary to go up without an elevator by 5-16 every day (or every other day), etc. floors of a multi-storey building.

Thirdly, EVERYTHING that was eaten, drunk during the flight and did not have time to digest and move from the stomach to the intestines, at the time of the decrease in the altitude of the aircraft, will begin to rise up (according to the laws of physics!). Therefore, if the flight lasts less than three hours, refrain from food, and drink water from drinks, it is quickly absorbed by the body (but no later than forty minutes before landing, otherwise the water will begin to rise from the stomach into the esophagus and "ask out" - it is better drink before boarding the plane). And do not drink carbonated drinks or mineral sparkling water - gases will also start to rise up!

But to be extremely precise, the best advice is not to eat or anything from drinks (except, still water) during the flight on the plane - this is the time for fasting. Then there will be no problems with nausea and vomiting. Even 12-18 hours of flight can be sustained without food. The exception is those cases when a person suffers from diabetes and needs replenishment of carbohydrates, or suffers from increased acid emissions into the stomach, and he needs a fractional diet. But even in such cases, two hours before landing, it is not recommended to eat and forty minutes - an hour before landing - drinking water.

These simple tips can improve your condition during flights, and give you the opportunity to spend time in peace and quiet on the plane.