Freedom from travel sickness and nausea! (Sea-Band)

Member Name: kernow21

Product:	Sea-Band
Date:	07/10/08 (222 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Banish travel sickness for good.

Disadvantages: None.

I first bought sea bands or travel bands as they are also known because I used to get travel sick on trains. I also can feel a bit off colour after a long journey in the car. Going to University in London and living in Cornwall meant a lot of four hour train journeys between the two destinations for weekends at home and holidays. I was never physically sick due to travel sickness, and granted the feeling did wear off pretty quickly after I got off the train, but it was still pretty unpleasant. I used to put up with it and just concentrate on getting home, but one Friday afternoon I had an hour or so at Paddington before my train departed, so I decided to go into Boots and check out what sort of travel sickness remedies they had. I already carried Lavender and Camomile oil with me and that was good for giving a sense of calm and de-stressing but I wanted to see if there was anything I could get that would actually tackle the physical symptoms of travel sickness.

I was aware that you could get travel sickness tablets, and I was also aware that you could get travel sickness bands but I didn't really know anything apart from that. In Boots they had the travel sickness tablets, but I was a bit reluctant to take any tablets unless I really had to. Also, the packet recommended taking a dose so many hours before the start of the journey and this time had already passed. So I looked at the travel bands and decided on these. The box gave a description of how they worked and how to use them.

Basically these bands work on the basis of acupressure. There are several acupressure points on your body, but travel bands work on the 'Nei Kuan' pressure points on your wrists. Travel sickness basically occurs because your body is confused when traveling as the brain is being sent confused messages. Your eyes are telling your brain you are moving as you look at the landscape speeding by, yet the inner ear that deals with balance, is telling your brain you are sat still. This basically causes a loss in equilibrium in the body as your senses become confused, and this can make you feel sick. There is nothing actually wrong with your stomach or head etc which experiencing travel sickness; these are secondary effects of confusion between your senses.

When pressure is applied to these Nei Kuan pressure points, this supposedly has the effect of re-balancing and thus reducing the feelings of travel sickness. (The box described as re -balancing your Yin and Yang). I have to say that my experience with these bands was successful. While I used to get off the train feeling a bit worse for wear and a bit queasy, when using these bands, I jumped off the train bright as a button and excited to be home! As I said before, the feeling never lasted long once I got off the train but to not experience it at all was great! I have also used these in the car and have experienced no ill feeling apart from the inevitable tiredness that come with going on a long car journey.


The bands themselves are knitted elasticated bands. They seem very small when you get them out of the box, and although they were elasticated I thought that they might be too tight and cause discomfort, but I found this not to be the case. The bands are a very dark grey/black colour.On each band, there is a white, smooth plastic stud in the middle of the band. On the outside of the band the stud is flat whilst on the inside it is rounded. You are supposed to wear both the bands at the same time for the right effect. The bands are easy to use, the best way to find the pressure point is to place two fingers under the first crease in your wrist, (lay your fingers across the wrist as if you were taking your pulse) and find the point about two fingers down, then feel across this area until you find the point between the two tendons towards the outside of your wrist. This next point will perhaps be different for everybody, but I can see a vein in my wrist than then branches off into three. I find that the place to put the bands is just above the leftermost vein, between the two tendons that you can feel there. There are pictures of this on the box and instruction that are probably a lot easier to follow than my rambling but that is how I do it if you can understand that! This point is where the rounded side of the stud should sit. What I do is when I have located the point, I get a pen and draw a little mark there, then get the band and position the stud on the pen mark. It is better than keeping your finger on the point whilst trying to get the band on and then quickly trying to pull your finger away and land the stud in the correct spot.


These bands are also suitable for use any time you feel sick or experience nausea, including during pregnancy and whilst undergoing chemotherapy. As they are drug free you can use them alongside anything you are already taking without having to worry and they are also perfectly safe for children to use. I sometimes put them on as I get headaches and migraines that are accompanied by nausea, and as I find that nausea is often the worst part of it the bands really help then too.

The bands are around £6-7, and are available in Boots and other big chemists such as Lloyds. I'm not sure about anywhere else but in Boots they are sold in a Boots branded box, although they are actually the Sea Band brand. The words Sea Band are printed on the outside of the plastic stud on the bands themselves. I think before I discovered these travel bands I would've thought hard about going anywhere that involved a long journey such as a coach holiday, and perhaps turned it down, but now I feel as if I don't have to worry.

I really would recommend these bands to anybody. Even if you don't experience travel sickness, they are good to have around for any type of nausea. Also, travel sickness can affect anyone at any time. I never used to feel sick on trains then it suddenly started. I don't experience these same symptoms on a plane or a boat, but I always carry the bands on these modes of transport as one day I might. They can be applied before the onset of nausea if you anticipate than nausea will soon ensue, such as when you are due to board a plane or train, or if you feel a headache coming on - or they can be applied after the onset of nausea to then control it. As they are drug free they have no side effects and do not interfere with any other medication. Thoroughly recommended.

Summary: Excellent results.