Travels certainly form youth, but they can also return the stomach and create a string of unpleasant symptoms. People subject to transport evil know them too well: nausea (more generally gastrointestinal disturbances), headache, dizziness, excessive yawning, thermoregulation disorders (cold sweats or excessive sweating), fatigue.
Although not everyone is sensitive to what is more scientifically called “cinetosis”, it affects 10 to 20% of the population. “Children under 3 are in principle spared. The 8 to 10 year old slice is the one who suffers the most. In prepubère age, 30 to 40% of young people are subject to cinetosis. This rate drops to 25% in young adults, then continues to decrease with age. Note that, very often, migrainese people also feel transport evil, “said Dr. Nils Guinand, doctor at the service of Otorhinolaryngology and Cervicial Surgery of Geneva University Hospitals.
Conflict between the brain and balance systems
Why can some people read by car on a mountain road when others cannot even take a look at their phone on a highway? “When you are in a car, a train or a boat, three different systems are activated thanks to which we can perceive movement and maintain our balance: vision, inner ear (vestibular system) and proprioception (Editor’s note: the perception we have of the body in space, via the skin, joints, etc.). These three actors provide information to the brain, which he uses to send impulses to which the body reacts so as not to be unbalanced. If the brain gives more importance to one of these systems, it can result in the typical symptoms of transport evil. There is then an inadequacy between what we really perceive and what the brain records, “explains Dr. Guinand.
Techniques and drugs exist to alleviate symptoms (Read box), but it is also possible to carry out a habitation. Jean-François Cugnot, physiotherapist vestibular to the HUG, explains: “We proceed a bit as for allergic desensitization. The person is exposed to stimuli which reproduce the sensory conflicts proven during transport, by gradually increasing the duration and the intensity of the exposure. The goal is to accustom the body to manage the dissension that is created between vestibular and visual systems. For this, the physiotherapist has a rotary chair, a virtual reality headset and a dark room with luminous signals which give an illusion of movement while the person is motionless. “In virtual reality, you can simulate driving using a steering wheel, be a passenger and even read a virtual book at the back,” says Jean-François Cugnot.
Tips to overcome tracas without tracas
– Avoid heavy meals and alcohol before set out.
– Take appropriate drugs (some antihistamines are effective, as well as some antysmark, among others).
– Do self -hypnosis exercises to divert attention from symptoms.
– Look outside to better perceive the movement. Place yourself at the front of the vehicle thus helps to see the road better.
– In the event of anxious symptoms linked to transport evil (strong apprehension, fear, feeling of confinement), trying cognitivo-behavioral therapy (TCC).
Patient back on firm land
You should know that the car, the train, the plane, the boat and any type of vehicle (especially space shuttles) can make people sensitive. “In Switzerland, travelers who take ICN trains (tilting box trains) are often embarrassed by the roll felt. Indeed, there is a discrepancy between the moment when the train accelerates in a turn and that when it bows. It is this phenomenon that can cause symptoms, ”says Dr. Nils Guinand. In principle, once out of the train, the pendulum regains their component, but this is not necessarily the case for people who stay in motion for a long time. Sailors or astronauts can thus have the landing of landing. Their organism ended up getting used to movement, but struggling to get back on land! And Jean-François Cugnot to conclude: “In the history of humanity, it has not been so long that you can move at high speed, it is therefore normal that the body of some people cannot adapt. »»
