Airsickness
Motion sickness induced by air travel From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Motion sickness induced by air travel From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Airsickness is a specific form of motion sickness which is induced by air travel[1] and is considered a normal response in healthy individuals. Airsickness occurs when the central nervous system receives conflicting messages from the body (including the inner ear, eyes and muscles) affecting balance and equilibrium. Whereas commercial airline passengers may simply feel poorly, the effect of airsickness on military aircrew may lead to a decrement in performance and adversely affect the mission.[2]
Airsickness | |
---|---|
Specialty | Emergency medicine |
The inner ear is particularly important in the maintenance of balance and equilibrium because it contains sensors for both angular (rotational) and linear motion. Airsickness is usually a combination of spatial disorientation, nausea and vomiting.[3]
Common symptoms of airsickness include:
Nausea, vomiting, vertigo, loss of appetite, cold sweating, skin pallor, difficulty concentrating, confusion, drowsiness, headache, and increased fatigue.[1] Severe airsickness may cause a person to become completely incapacitated.[1][3]
The following factors increase some people's susceptibility to airsickness:
Travelers who are susceptible to motion sickness can minimize symptoms by:[citation needed]
Medications that may alleviate the symptoms of airsickness[1] include:
Pilots who are susceptible to airsickness are usually advised not to take anti-motion sickness medications (prescription or over-the-counter).[1][3] These medications can make one drowsy or affect brain functions in other ways.
A method to increase pilot resistance to airsickness consists of repetitive exposure to the flying conditions that initially resulted in airsickness. In other words, repeated exposure to the flight environment decreases an individual's susceptibility to subsequent airsickness.[1] The US Air Force and US Navy have an Air Sickness Management Program and use a device called a Barany chair to desensitize trainees over 3 days. This combined with progressive relaxation (diaphragmatic breathing and muscle tensing) yields a high success rate.[7][8] The Italian Air Force also uses a similar spinning chair and psychologic relaxation techniques which yields an 82% long-term success rate, over a 10-day training period.[9]
Several devices have been introduced that are intended to reduce motion sickness through stimulation of various body parts (usually the wrist).[10]
Alternative treatments include ginger and acupuncture, with variable effectiveness.[11][12][13][14]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.