Motion Sickness: The Cause Behind It

Motion sickness is a common condition that occurs when your brain receives conflicting signals about movement.

What Happens in Your Body:

Your inner ear, eyes and muscles all send messages to your brain about your position and motion. When these signals don’t match, like when you’re reading in a moving car, your brain gets confused. This mismatch triggers nausea, dizziness, sweating and sometimes vomiting.

Common Triggers:

  • Cars, buses, trains, or planes

  • Boats or cruises

  • Virtual reality or 3D motion experiences

  • Rollercoasters or amusement park rides

Tips to Prevent or Reduce Motion Sickness:

  1. Look at the Horizon: Focus on a stable point to help your brain reconcile motion.

  2. Sit Strategically: Front seats in cars, over the wings in planes, or middle of a boat reduce swaying.

  3. Keep Cool & Well-Ventilated :Fresh air and lower cabin temperature help.

  4. Avoid Heavy Meals Before Travel: Greasy or spicy food can worsen nausea.

  5. Medication Antihistamines like dimenhydrinate or scopolamine patches can be effective. Always consult a doctor first.

  6. Ginger: Natural remedies like ginger tea or candies can calm the stomach for mild cases.

Fun Fact: Motion sickness is actually your body’s way of protecting you. Evolutionarily, the brain may interpret sensory mismatch as a sign of neurotoxin ingestion, triggering vomiting to “clear out the toxin.”

Have you found any travel tricks or remedies that help in stopping motion sickness?

MBH/PS

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yeah, when i try to use my phone or try to read anything in phone or book i get motion sickness. To avoid this i just avoid reading while traveling , never had a trick to prevent it. Thanks for sharing the tips.

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I’ve personally never experienced motion sickness, but I’ve heard of some interesting remedies people use. Some eat cloves to prevent nausea, and others claim that sitting on a newspaper helps, though I’m not sure if that actually works or is just a myth.

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When I experience this condition I usually distract myself, like hearing songs with headset or sleeping or as Indian our parents or relatives usually say to carry a lemon and to smell it by pinching some of its skin but actually it didn’t work for me.

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Yes even i have felt a lot due to constant jerking motion of buses. What i do is close my eyes and rest my head onto any bus part (like wall, seat, handle). It works for me everytime.

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I can totally relate to this post. Thanks for explaining the sensory conflict that makes people sick when they move and giving useful recommendations on how to avoid it.

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Motion sickness happens when the movement you see is different from what your inner ear senses.So Even stopping for a short period of time helps relieve motion sickness.

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I have not experienced motion sickness. But a friend of mine says eating a citrus candy controls motion sickness