Motion Sickness Health Article

Definition

Motion sickness is uncomfortable dizziness, nausea, and vomiting that people experience when their sense of balance and equilibrium is disturbed because their brain cannot make sense of conflicting information about their body's location in space and motion in their environment.

Description

Motion sickness is connected to the role of the sensory organs. The sensory organs control a body's sense of balance by telling the brain what direction the body is pointing, the direction it is moving, and if it is standing still or turning. These messages are relayed by the inner ear (or labyrinth); the eyes; the skin pressure receptors (such as in those in the feet), the muscle and joint sensory receptors, which track what body parts are moving to the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord). The brain then is responsible for processing all incoming information and making sense out of it. Riding in a car, being on a ship, or taking an amusement park ride can cause conflicting stimulation of the different sense organs. The result is motion sickness.

For example, when reading a book in the back seat of a moving car, the inner ears and skin receptors sense the motion, but the eyes register only the stationary pages of the book. This conflicting information may cause the usual motion sickness symptoms of dizziness, nausea, and vomiting. While motion sickness can be bothersome, it is not a serious illness, and it can be prevented.