Holiday Escape

The holidays are right around the corner. Bet you can just imagine all of the dinners and friends and gift wrapping and decorating to come. Good times, right? We know what you’re really thinking . . . escape! You’re feeling that urge we all get around this time of year. The one that wants to say no to cleaning behind the fridge (who looks there, anyway?), and shake your head uh-uh to hosting yet another ginormous holiday all-day meal. Or worse, drive three hours through snow and ice to get to grandma’s and sweat through a ginormous holiday all-day meal with nephew Stevie slobbering all over your dessert. The secret is to slip out of town for a few days. Take the train or hop in your car and go check out that cozy B&B you’ve been thinking about. Give yourself a breather. It’s allowed. Pack your Reliefband® for the ride. Bring a book or some old movies and fuzzy socks and you’ve got yourself a long weekend of pampering right in the middle of the chaos. Aaahhhhh. Talk about a happy holiday!

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Holiday Travel And Motion Sickness

Holiday travel is coming up and you’re dreading it. Not because Uncle Jimmy’s going to eat too much and sprawl all over the couch, but because you suffer from wicked motion sickness and the journey is not going to be fun. We have some tips to help you navigate a puke-free path to your destination. Hang in there, we will get you to mom’s mincemeat pie! First, if you don’t already have one, get a Reliefband®; put it on your wrist and turn it on before traveling. This device will change your world. Don’t take our word for it, check out what Reliefband® users have to say. Other actions you can take to help alleviate the nausea include: Keep your eyes on what’s happening outside the car/train/plane. Do not read a book or watch movies on your e-device. Direct airflow toward your face. A fresh, gentle breeze helps. Any cool air coming from the ventilation system will do, as long as it’s not smelly. No greasy, heavy meals before or during the trip. If you need to eat, make it something light and not spicy. Water is good to drink, but no sugary or acidic beverages. If there’s room, stretch out and take a nap. Snooze your way through to your destination. With a little planning and your Reliefband® on your wrist, you will survive the journey in fine form, and possibly even beat Uncle Jimmy to the couch for a post-dinner nap.

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Don’t Let Road Trips Throw You A Curve

Road trips are escapes from the routine at the speed of life. Americans and cars go together like apple pie and ice cream. We enjoy our cars, especially for road trips! Many of us don’t typically experience carsickness, but you throw in enough curves and hills as we motor toward the end of a day’s driving, and some of us will feel queasy. The fact is, any of us may experience carsickness under the right (or wrong) circumstances. There are a few things you can do to try and get to the end of your driving day puke-free. Most importantly before you hit the road make sure you have a Reliefband for everyone in the car. Take frequent driving breaks to get everyone out of the car and check out the scenery. Keep a stream of cool air blowing in the face of each person while the car is in motion. Don’t consume greasy or heavy food, and keep the smelly food for another time. Eat light snacks while in the car. Stay hydrated with non-sugary liquids – plain water is perfect. Keep your eyes focused on the horizon (not at scenery zipping past the side of the car). Be aware that it’s possible for anyone to get carsick, or even all your passengers. Be prepared, have fun out there and live life in full motion with Reliefband!

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Road Trip Dreams

Here you are, smack dab in the middle of holiday season dreaming about next year’s road trips. Why not, right? Road trips are part of our national psyche. They’re a rite of passage we embrace. Where are you headed and when will you go? We have a few ideas, and hope to see you on the road in 2017! Spring Arizona stuns the senses with its beauty. You could spend the entire trip at the Grand Canyon, or leave time to see the rest of the state. Saddle up and ride through the Petrified Forest, pretend you’re in an old-time Western in Monument Valley, or hike among the red rocks of Sedona. Summer This one’s a long drive even if you live on the West Coast—Denali National Park and Preserve. That’s right, Alaska. You can hike, bike, backpack, camp, mountain climb, canoe, and fly around in a tiny plane. It’s the big outdoors! And did we mention the wildlife? Autumn Vermont—it’s the perfect place for the season. This petite state is littered with byways that dive deep into ridiculously gorgeous scenery. Grab a gallon of maple syrup and start counting the covered bridges along the way. (There are over 100.) It doesn’t matter where we end up, it’s the journey that we all love. Make sure you keep loving the journey by taking along a Reliefband for every passenger. (As we all know: carsickness + road trip = misery!)

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Halloween And Carsick Kids

Halloween is just days away. Do you have a plan in place? Oh sure, you have the kids’ costumes, or at least an idea of who’s going to be what. Maybe you know where you’re taking the littles to trick-or-treat. But do you know how you’re going to keep them from getting sick on the night when children gorge themselves on candy? Is that particular plan in place? We have a few ideas: Walk to your designated trick-or-treat neighborhood. When little kids are in the backseat of a car, sweating in their costumes and full of sugar, even those who don’t normally get carsick are likely to get carsick. People ask us if kids can use Reliefbands to treat nausea, and this is what we say: Yes, if they are old enough to understand how to control the device and have big enough wrists to wear the device. Use of Reliefband for kids around 12 or older likely is most appropriate, but often children as young as 8 years of age also meet these criteria. In any case, however, we still suggest that you consult with your child’s pediatrician before using it on him/her. Make sure to keep Reliefband away from young children under 8 years of age. Limit the amount of candy each child can consume before bedtime. Once that agreement is reached, pluck the bags of candy out of the hands of the littles and hide the bags until the next day. Most parents feel that bags stuffed with candy are best hidden in the parents’ bedroom. This allows them to keep a stern eye on the goods. Insist that a healthy meal be eaten before any trick-or-treating is done. Fill up their tummies with solid, non-sugary food. Find a way to ditch at least half of the candy in each bag. If the kids start howling in despair, put it in a freezer bag and shove it way, way back in the freezer. The top shelf is always good. Tell the kids that after they finish what’s not in the freezer, then eat all of the December holiday candy sure to make an appearance, they can circle back around to frozen Halloween candy in the spring. There’s a 50-50 chance they’ll have forgotten about it by then. Good luck!

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Surviving Your Family Road Trip

Family road trips. Ah, yes. Three little words that elicit both nostalgia and . . . a sense of doom. Remember the kids singing and giggling during the day, and then later, the quiet murmurings of the adults in the front seat as wee ones drifted to sleep in the back? Precious days. Oh, and do you remember this? “Dad, I don’t feel so good,” followed by the sound of a wee one barfing all over the backseat and probably the back of a sibling. Doom need not be your traveling companion during family road trips. Whether you’re headed out on a meandering vacation, or going to grandma’s for the holidays, we have some tips on how to keep the nostalgia and ditch the doom. Fill a pack or a sack for each child with age-appropriate activities, stuffed critters, and snacks. It is theirs to carry and keep close. Place a small cooler on the floor behind the front seats and fill it with drinks. Tuck packages of wet wipes and paper towels around the vehicle’s interior. Encourage games that require kids to look out the windows. Reading or watching a screen may create a circumstance where the child’s inner ear feels the car’s motion, but his eyes do not see the motion, and that sets up a potential for carsickness. Direct cool air to flow toward the kids, either from open windows, or the vehicle’s ventilation system. This helps tamp down feelings of nausea. Wearing a Reliefband will help ward off symptoms of carsickness, once your child is old enough to know how to control a Reliefband, and his wrists are big enough to wear it. Your child’s pediatrician will be able to help you make that determination. Food eaten during the trip should be of a healthy variety, and not too spicy or greasy. And finally, naps are encouraged. Have fun! In the end, you’ll be glad you went.

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ReliefBand – By Your Side All The Way.

When friends or family come to you chattering about a trip they want to take, one they want YOU to take with them, what do you say? Do you delay the conversation, or start picking apart their plans? If so, is it because you know that motion sickness will rear it’s uuugly face and ruin your trip before you reach your destination? Fear no more. Take a trip with ReliefBand on your wrist and you’ll never again be the naysayer in the group. Aw, go on and try it, you know you want to.

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Kids And Carsickness. Ugh.

Little kids are prone to carsickness. Not all of them (thank goodness), but some, and it’s important to know the symptoms so that you can head off disaster. When your otherwise healthy child is riding in a car and is pale, beading up with a bit of sweat. complaining of nausea or simply cranky, yawning a lot, and of course most evident, vomiting, then chances are he or she is experiencing motion sickness. The problem is, small children aren’t tall enough to see the horizon while sitting in a moving car, so their eyes tell them they’re not moving, but their bodies know that they are doing so. That contradictory feeling trips the nausea trigger in them and they feel carsick (motion sickness). If you know your children are prone to carsickness, it may help to feed them some crackers and water or other nonsugary beverage before getting in the car. Getting something in their tummies helps with the nausea. Keep cool air blowing on the children’s faces, and don’t let them focus on books or electronic games. It’s better if they listen to music or a story rather than stare at fixed objects in the car. If symptoms persist, stop the car and let the kids walk about, get a drink of water, and have a light snack. There are medications to counter motion sickness in children, but always check with the child’s provider before administering anything. If you have any tips for other parents, please share in the comments!     Image courtesy of flickr/raissaviza

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Motion Sickness Remedies

Many people love to travel. You say, “Let’s go to . . . “ and their bags are packed before you finish the sentence. Some of us are not so eager. You start talking about a trip, we get clammy just thinking of the car/plane/train ride. Motion sickness isn’t funny or fun, but there are ways we can combat that awful feeling and enjoy the journey as well as the destination. In addition to ReliefBand, there’s a prescription patch (scopolamine) that works well for many, but it can’t be used on kids. For children, Dramamine or Benadryl may help. Ginger or peppermint can reduce the symptoms of nausea, and keeping your face pointed toward fresh air is beneficial. Nothing works 100 percent of the time for everyone. But, with ReliefBand and the other products and suggestions mentioned here, you have a good chance of finding something that works. Don’t let motion sickness keep you at home. Get out there and enjoy the world!     Image courtesy of flickr/swong95765

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