Swimmingfilter: Lap swimming leaves me motion sick.

January 9, 2008 10:32 AM

Swimmingfilter: Lap swimming leaves me motion sick. Ideas?

I swam competitively as a grade schooler and continue to swim for exercise. I’ve been out of the pool for about a year because most sessions would end with some motion sickness, characterized by dizziness, lethargy, mild disorientation and yawning (without stomach upset). This didn’t happen when I was a kid.

When last I was swimming, I was mostly swimming mid-day sessions and the after effects of the motion sickness would last several hours and make work in the afternoon difficult.

I was swimming between 1,000 and 2,000 meters, most free with some breast and fly. I’m pretty sure only the freestyle breathing head rotation is causing the dizziness. In the free, I breathe every right hand stroke. I tried breathing every third stroke to alternate my head rotation. I still ended up dizzy. Emphasizing rolling my body to breathe, rather than head rotation seemed to make the problem worse.

My optometrist did some tests and thinks I likely have some crystals in my ear fluid that magnifies the perceived effects of any motion. This sounds likely, as I get motion sick in other situations (facing backwards in cars, rough air flights, rollercosters) fairly easily.

I miss swimming and would like to start up again. Anyone else dealt with this problem? Any suggestions?

posted by sisquoc15 to sports, hobbies, & recreation (7 comments total)

You might want to try ways to prevent motion sickness in general. There seems to be many previous AskMe questions about motion sickness.
posted by burnmp3s at 10:37 AM on January 9, 2008

Besides looking into treating the motion sickness at its source, try mixing up your workouts -- swim with kickboards, swim sprints with 1-minute rest breaks, backstrokes, etc. Anything so you're swimming but not endlessly doing freestyle laps.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 11:05 AM on January 9, 2008

Completely anecdotal advice: My high school swim coach advised use of ear plugs when swimming for just this reason. Don’t know if it works as I was never motion sick, but they swore by it. FWIW
posted by French Fry at 11:12 AM on January 9, 2008

Search the forums at slowtwitch, there's a lot of discussion about this.

A lot of triathletes there recommend avoiding cold water, using ear plugs, doing open turns as opposed to flip turns, and bilateral breathing as opposed to always breathing on the same side.

I had this same problem, and what worked for me was just more time in the water (I still can't breathe bilaterally after about 500yds) and making sure I was well hydrated and fed.

It's the worst feeling in the world to me. Sometimes I'll get out of the water after a long session and I'll look as white as a sheet.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 11:29 AM on January 9, 2008

Is there any correlation between the nausea and time of day or how recently you've eaten? I know I can't swim within a couple hours of eating; my (completely unscientific) guess is that exercising while horizontal is what makes my stomach feel so gross. I do best when I swim first thing in the morning and don't eat beforehand, though I do make sure to stay hydrated.
posted by bassjump at 11:49 AM on January 9, 2008

Another thing to consider is what you're looking at while you swim. I get motion sick while doing laps if I'm kind of staring off into space under the water, but if I focus on the tiles up ahead on the bottom of the pool I'm fine. Or maybe the opposite would work for someone else.
posted by vytae at 11:54 AM on January 9, 2008

I don't know how hard you're pushing yourself, but I've found that not getting enough oxygen greatly exacerbates any motion sickness. I almost gave up martial arts due to uncontrollable dizziness while rolling before I figured that one out....
posted by tkolar at 12:58 PM on January 9, 2008