Dr Tom Smith 

Doctor, doctor: Our children get car sick – help!

Are pills the only solution? Dr Tom Smith has the answer
  
  

Car sickness
When the car turns round a bend, the brain receives different messages from the ears and eyes about where it is in space – and that leads to nausea. Photograph: Aaron Tilley for the Guardian Photograph: Aaron Tilley for the Guardian

How can we prevent our children from being car sick? Even on short journeys they feel queasy. We don't want to push pills into them, but they seem the only answer, and even then they don't work very well. Any ideas?
Encourage your children to look constantly outside the car at the environment around them. Then their eyes and balance organs within the inner ears will be working in tune, instead of against each other. If they look at something inside the car, their inner ears still respond to the car's movement. When the car turns round a bend, the brain receives different messages from the ears and eyes about where it is in space – and that leads to nausea. If the children can look ahead, and be kept interested in what is on the road, they should avoid sickness. Looking for special number plates or lorry names can work wonders. Reading or playing computer games are no-nos. If they are badly sick, stop for a while and lie them down with their eyes shut. Pills do work, but they are better taken before the journey begins.

• Do you have a question for Dr Smith? Email doctordoctor@theguardian.com

 

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