I joined our local Science Museum and my membership includes free Imax movies. I hadn’t been to one in awhile, but I rememberd they made me sick as a child. I saw one this weekend, and shortly after it started I felt sick and queasy. It is similar to sea sickness. I thought I’d grow out of it since I used to get car sick as a child and don’t anymore; regular movies don’t bother me.
Why is this? What can I do to prevent this? I don’t want to take anything that will make me tired or impair my driving ability.
My SO gets a similar reaction to playing or watching video games. My WAG is that it is similar to motion sickness. Wikipedia explains that motion sickness
In your case the perceived motion is greater and actual movement far less. Of course this could be a complete crock, so you had better wait for someone medical to turn up and either confirm or refute.
I experience the same thing in some Imax movies. I think it’s the cognitive dissonance between what your eyes are seeing and what your inner ear is reporting. As the camera pans and zooms, your entire field of vision is telling you that you’re swooping twisting and spinning all over the place, while your inner ear’s telling you you’re sitting still in a chair. The only thing I’ve found that seems to help is to periodically look away from the screen - at my feet, at the audience around me, at the exit signs - anything that is not moving and swaying along with the screen. It works best if I make sure that I can’t even see a little of the screen when I do this. I feel like I’m re-syncing my eyes with the rest of my senses. If I glance away like this periodically before I start to feel nauseous, I don’t have to look away very long. The longer I wait to do this, the longer I need to look away. For the same reasons, I only get carsick if I’m reading the paper - the paper blocks my view of the road, so my eyes are telling me we’re sitting still, and my inner ear’s telling me we’re rounding corners, starting and stopping.
I’m not a medical professional, but this used to happen to me as well. The way I dealt with it was to periodically glance at something stationary (like the seat in front of me, or the wall) whenever I started feeling odd. I learned it from my stepfather, a sailor, who told me that the best way to combat seasickness was to look at the horizon. Same concept.
Sorry, but I have no answer…other than that if IMax movies make you sick, don’t go to them.
They make me feel TERRIBLE. And the thing I originally found odd is that while I may enjoy a ride on a roller coaster very much, sitting in a theater simulating it makes me want to puke. I chaled it up to the motion not being “real” as someone said…you’re sitting in your seat, NOT moving so it’s just goofing with your inner ear vs. body.
I get severe headaches from motion sickness, and the IMAX theaters tend to do the same thing to me. Taking non-drowsy Dramamine seems to help, and a friend of mine would wear those pressure point bracelets - she swears they helped.