Random Nausea-Inducing Things You Didn't Know About Seasickness (18 items)

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  (#1) After Being Seasick, You Can Then Get "Landsick"

  So, you brave your vomitous test of horror for a week, and you finally get to go back on sweet, wonderful land. All your problems are over, right? Not quite. You see, once your body has acclimated to the rolling motion of the ocean, it can have trouble readjusting to non-moving land. In fact, the body can react by making you feel all the symptoms you originally had when you were seasick, effectively making you seasick while on land. It can take several days to get your "landlegs" again.
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  (#2) It Can Make You Vomit So Much That You Get Dehydrated

  There are no real serious health complications from a bout of seasickness, except for one. When you vomit, you remove fluids from your body, and that can dehydrate you, especially if you can't keep anything down. Enough dehydration can cause fainting and low blood pressure, both of which can make your trip even more miserable. So it's always a good idea to see the ship's medic when you start throwing up.
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  (#3) Symptoms of Seasickness Can Last for Up to Three Days

  If you take a little trip, whalewatching or birdwatching perhaps, and come back feeling sick, you might not be out of the woods yet. Even if the sickness is brief, symptoms of it, including the nausea and vomiting, can sometimes last up to three days. Even if you're safe at home in your bed. So get plenty of fluids and rest when you get home, and pray that it's not the dreaded three-day kind.
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  (#4) Seasickness Makes You Drooly

  When you think of seasickness, you probably right away think of vomiting as the biggest symptom. Well, there are a few other rather unsavory ones you might not not know about. One of these is that seasickness can make you salivate too much, which means your mouth is going to fill up with spit. Combine that with an increase in burping, and you're likely to be a gross drooly mess, even if you're not actually throwing up.
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  (#5) One Natural Remedy Involves Chewing Cloves of Raw Garlic

  Bad breath or vomiting, you choose! Honestly, though, the remedy suggests that you chew raw cloves of garlic from the beginning of the voyage to the very end, not just when you start to feel sick. Sure, your smell might make other people on the ship feel nauseated, but that's their problem, not yours.
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  (#6) Its Easy to Confuse Seasickness and Norovirus

  Ever heard of Norovirus? If you haven't, and haven't had it, be very glad. It involves lots of vomiting, exhaustion, and fever, and can knock you on your butt for days on end. Due to the vomiting and exhaustion and other motion sickness-like symptoms, it can be mistaken for seasickness during the early stages. The horrible thing about this is that Norovirus is often found on cruise ships, and it's highly contagious. If you want to ruin a fun time out on the ocean, that's a surefire way to do it.
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  (#7) Some People Say Drinking Sea Water Will Stop the Nausea

  First of all, these people are absolutely wrong and should stop talking. Drinking sea water is a terrible idea and you should never ever do it for any reason. Secondly, this is a very old remedy. Way back in the great seafaring explorer times, drinking a cup of bilge water or sea water was a suggested cure for seasickness. Those guys had pretty short lifespans anyway, so it's probably not a good idea for us today.
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  (#8) Expecting to Be Seasick Actually Makes You Seasick

  Ever heard of a self-fulfilling prophecy? Well, if you've been seasick once, and hated it so much that you're genuinely scared of it happening again, you can actually cause yourself to be more sick! That's right, people who have been seasick may have stronger symptoms next time around because they're anxious about it. That anxiety is a huge risk factor for seasickness. So chill out, or you could be tossing your lunch over the railing all the sooner.
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  (#9) Pregnant Women Are More Likely to Vomit at Sea

  Women and children are the most common victims of seasickness, but one type of woman in particular gets hit hardest by seasickness: pregnant women. That's right, if you're planning to go on a cruise and you're carrying a baby, you should also be carrying a barf bag. It also doesn't help that some seasickness meds are specifically not to be taken while pregnant.
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  (#10) Seasickness Is Caused By Your Brain Not Understanding How You Feel

  Some people think that seasickness is just caused from getting dizzy, but that's not entirely true. More accurately, your brain cannot connect the feeling of your body's motion to what your eyes are seeing. In short, you're jiggling and swaying and your brain has no clue why, and it flips out. That's why closing your eyes, staring at a fixed point, and even swimming in the cruise ship's pool can often calm some of the nausea. 
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  (#11) Astronauts Get Seasick in Space (Spacesick)

  Ok, so it's not on the sea, but they're still on a ship, and the symptoms are the same. You'd think that after so much testing, training, and preparation, astronauts, of all people, would be over this whole seasickness thing. But the majority of astronauts have some symptoms of spacesickness. Also, as an added gross factor, do you know what vomit does in zero gravity? It's not pretty.
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  (#12) You Can Get Seasick from Riding a Camel

  There's a reason these beasts are sometimes called the "ships of the desert." That swaying, rolling motion they make is often compared to being on a boat. One famous camel rider, none other than Lawrence of Arabia, reported getting seasick from riding the beasts, as if he was actually out on the ocean. It just goes to show that if you're prone to seasickness, the dastardly affliction can hunt you down and find you just about anywhere.
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  (#13) Even Fish Can Get Seasick!

  Now, we know what you're thinking: how on earth can an animal who lives their whole life in the sea get seasick? Well, scientists have actually spent time and money proving that fish get symptoms of seasickness. One German scientist in particular, Dr. Reinhold Hilbig, found that the way the fish's body motion and vision don't correlate makes them confused, disoriented, and maybe even nauseated. Why did he do this? Why, to learn more about how humans feel in space, of course! ...poor fish.
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  (#14) Getting Your Sea Legs Doesn't Always Help

  Most people take a day or two to acclimate themselves to the rolling motion of the sea, and after that the symptoms of seasickness eventually go away. However, that's not true 100% of the time. For some people, even as they get their "sea legs," they still have nausea and vomiting at times. Around 5% of people find the symptoms chronic, no matter how long they sail for.
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  (#15) Avoiding Ocean Spray By Staying Inside Can Make You Seasick

  If you're on a ship and you sometimes get seasick, but you're feeling pretty good right now, you might think you are out of the woods. Besides, that salt spray is murder on your hair, and it's noisy, so you decide to go inside. Whatever you do, do not go inside! Not seeing the horizon, not getting fresh air, and being surrounded by potential body odor are all ways to trigger seasickness. Just count your blessings and stay on deck.
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  (#16) The Spanish Armada Was Taken Down Partially Due to Seasickness

  Sure, seasickness sucks, but it's not really so devastating, is it? Historically, it actually kid of has been. Darwin and Nelson both report being struck by it, as well as several of the famous Greek philosophers. But the Spanish Armada arguably suffered the worst. In 1588, the English were vastly outgunned by the Spanish, but Spain's commander was fairly new to the sea. Though he was brilliant, he was also seasick. This, coupled with several other factors, eventually lead to England winning. You can bet the Spanish don't take seasickness too lightly.
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  (#17) Lack of Sleep and Heavy Drinking Will Make Seasickness Worse

  So, basically, if you're a writer, you're SOL. Kidding, kidding. Some risk factors for super bad seasickness include imbibing alcohol, not getting enough sleep the night before, not eating enough (keeping an empty stomach won't stop you from vomiting, sorry), and even smoking. So, if you're prone to seasickness, it's best to be a healthy human before you even set foot on that boat. You can have a martini after everything is over, as a reward for your courage. 
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  (#18) There's a Market For Personalized Barf Bags

  Need to feel more glamorous when you get seasick? Fear not, there are companies that actually make special fancy barf bags! Seriously, who does that?

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