If you suffer from motion sickness, travelling in many types of vehicles can be difficult due to a host of symptoms like dizziness, lightheadedness, nausea and vomiting. It is not clear why some people can read and play games on their phone during a long drive while others are desperately trying not to be sick.
It's not clear why some people only experience motion sickness in certain types of vehicles.
There are two theories that might explain what is happening.
The balance system is a key player in motion sickness according to the sensory conflict theory. Balance is maintained by more than one sensory organ. Our balance system works out exactly where we are by combining what we see and feel with information from the balance organ in our inner ears.
It can make us feel off-balance if the information from our eyes, inner ears, touch and pressure senses doesn't match up. It is thought that motion sickness is caused by a mismatch of information from our senses, with our eyes and inner ear telling our body that we are moving even though we are stationary.
The less sensory mismatch we experience in a vehicle, the less likely we are to experience motion sickness. If you travel in a car on a smooth, straight road, you will experience less sensory mismatch than if you travel on a winding road.
The strongest explanation for motion sickness is currently this theory, though we are still trying to understand the brain mechanisms that cause motion sickness.
An alternate theory suggests that it is all down to controlling posture. Motion sickness is not caused by mismatch of sensory information according to this theory.
It is our inability to adjust our posture that makes us feel nauseous. It makes sense since we can't always move around when travelling, but there isn't much evidence to support it.
There is no single reason why some people experience motion sickness more frequently than others. Differences in vision and balance systems will affect how a person feels in different types of vehicles.
There are certain disorders that increase the likelihood of experiencing motion sickness. Women are more likely to experience motion sickness than men, with some research suggesting experiences peak around nine or ten years of age. It is not clear why this may be the case.
The amount of motion sickness a person may experience depends on the type of vehicle they travel in. Any factor that increases the mismatch between the senses that contribute to our balance system will increase the risk of motion sickness.
The bigger the movement, the worse the symptoms. For example, travelling on a small boat in a storm for more than eight hours will cause quite severe symptoms, whereas a one-hour train journey will probably have little effect, even if the track isn't perfectly smooth.
When they are a passenger, many people report experiencing motion sickness, not when they are driving a vehicle. Drivers are better at anticipating the motion of a vehicle and moving their bodies according to it.
If a car travels around a sharp bend, the driver is going to be looking ahead and anticipating the movement of the car as they turn, while the passenger is likely to react by leaning in the opposite direction.
Cybersickness is a type of motion sickness that people get from the virtual environments, often when playing video games. The sensory conflict of seeing the environment move on the screen is what causes this.
Motion sickness can be caused by watching films in 3D.
If you suffer from motion sickness, the best thing to do is reduce the mismatch of sensory information in your vehicle. Try to look out the window instead of reading in the car as this causes a mismatch between what we are seeing and what we are feeling.
The visual information now matches the balance information in the inner ear, which may help reduce nausea. The same is true for boats and trains, focusing on the passing landscape can reduce symptoms.
Not having a heavy meal before travel, ventilating the vehicle and taking regular stops are some tips to reduce motion sickness.
An anti-motion sickness medication can help if these tips aren't enough. The brain sends signals to the gut which can help to stop nausea and vomiting, if the activity in the balance system of the brain is reduced.
Saima Rajasingam is a lecturer at the university.
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