I searched here and found only remedies for sickness… What, specifically, is the cause of motion sickness? Is any of it mental/psychological? Also, what is the difference between car sickness, roller coaster sickness and sea sickness?
Also, what types of variables help avoid sickness, and what variables make it worse (diet, hydration, temperature ect.)?
I believe it has to do with your eyes seeing that your moving, while your body feels like it is motionless. That seems to throw off something in your head and make you quezy. Having never been car or sea sick I don’t know if they are the same. (In fact I doubt they are at all the same, I assume sea sickness has more to do with the up and down motion of the water under the boat). Also from what I understand, the worst thing about sea sickness is that even after vomiting, you still feel just as sick. That probably causes more problems, since your body is used to feeling at least somewhat better after vomiting.
Dang…I also meant to add (same link as above). The site also seems to have a fairly complete of medications that treat motion sickness.
damn
As a life-long sufferer of motion sickness I agree strongly that there is a visual component. I’ve found that although I get sick riding in a vehicle I never do if I’m the one driving. Then I control the movement and there’s not as much disparity between what I see and what I feel. There seems to be something to lateral movement as well. I can ride a city bus without much problem but being in a taxi cab weaving in and out of traffic does me in. Repitition of movements is not good either. For example the consistent circular motion of a merry-go-round makes me sick while riding The Beast roller coaster at King’s Island doesn’t.
On a few occasions no actual movement of my body has taken place but I get motion sick anyway. This happened once in an IMAX theater (it only took ten minutes!) and has happened when I was looking through a teaching microscope being used by a professor. The fast movement of the slide, which I wasn’t controlling, made me very nauseated.
Looking out the front of the car or closing my eyes helps, if I can’t actually drive the vehicle. Whatever you do, don’t look at anything that’s moving by quickly, as out of the side windows. That makes it much worse. Reading in a car is right out. Air-conditioning helps too, it seems to be worse in hot weather.
I noticed some people mention that being hot makes it worse, as you did dwyr. Is there any scientific connection there?
The problem is intensified by your body sensing the motion while your eyes cannot see it. Thus the advice in Whack-a-Mole’s post. That is why driving a car is often no problem but being a passenger is, and why reading sets so many people off. I was told the “go to prow of the boat and watch the horizon until your used to the motion” method by a sailor and it never seems to fail.
I discovered after I had kids that 2 turns on a little park merry-go-round made me sick as a dog. A friend who is a physical therapist explained that it is very common for adults to lose the knack of spinning around depending on their lifestyle but if you wish you can reacquire it by practicing spinning and tumbling.
All motion sickness is caused by the same basic mechanism. Amusement park rides which shake you violently and turn you fast in every direction can make you sick in under a minute. I remember reading some Romans in Egypt got sick riding camels but did not get sick riding horses because camels sway more than horses do.
In spite of being an avid sailor I suffer from “mal de mer” and I am quite acquainted with it. As they say: the one and only sure remedy is to go sit under a tree. It never fails.
Other than that different people seem to have different responses. There are wrist straps which work for some people but they never worked for me.
I have noticed it is easier to get sick if you are alert and drowsiness will make you more immune. It is impossible to be seasick if you are asleep and almost impossible if you are very drowsy. Many drugs for the prevention of this make you drowsy but it works just as well if you are just very short of sleep. Of course, it is not a good idea to do that if you are the one driving or sailing (but neither is taking the drowsy pills).
The most effective remedy is the scopolamine patch but some people have strong reactions to it. It was withdrawn from the market for a couple of years due to some problems and now it is back. Maybe it has been reformulated. And I believe you need a prescription.
Some people say ginger makes them more immune to seasickness.
In a boat or ship, standing amidships and looking forward towards the horizon works pretty well. Also, like in a car, some people will not get sick at the wheel. Going belowdecks and reading are the worst things you can do.
For me, when my stomach rejects everything, bananas are the one thing which may stay down.
OK, now we know the biomechanical processes that create motion sickness, but there’s an implied question that has not been answered: Why do these things make us sick? Why should the conflict in the brain make us barf? Is motion sickness an evolved adaptation that has some benefit? Or is it just a consequence of our biology that is not harmful enough to be selected against?
OK, now we know the biomechanical processes that create motion sickness, but there’s an implied question that has not been answered: Why do these things make us sick? Why should the conflict in the brain make us barf? Is motion sickness an evolved adaptation that has some benefit? Or is it just a consequence of our biology that is not harmful enough to be selected against?
Another possible cause of a mismatch between what the eyes see and what the body feels is food poisoning – it can make your vision blurry and/or make you feel dizzy. If you have eaten something that causes these symptoms and you vomit, you may survive anyway. So those who responded to the symptom in that way improved their chances of having more offspring and passing the trait on. In the case of motion sickness, we have created the same symptom without the same cause. The body doesn’t “know” that, and reacts accordingly.
Exactly, MLS. Your brain thinks you have food poisoning, and the nausea is your body’s attempt to rid itself of the bad food.