Motion Sickness Health Article

Causes & symptoms

While all five of the body's sensory organs contribute to motion sickness, excess stimulation to the vestibular system within the inner ear (the body's "balance center") has been shown to be one of the primary reasons for this condition. Balance problems, or vertigo, are caused by a conflict between what is seen and how the inner ear perceives it, leading to confusion in the brain. This confusion may result in higher heart rates, rapid breathing, nausea, and sweating, along with dizziness and vomiting. There are people who suffer from constant motion sickness. Names for these conditions vary, such as positional dizziness.

Pure optokinetic motion sickness is caused solely by visual stimuli; that is, by what is seen. The optokinetic system is the reflex that allows the eyes to move when an object moves. Many people suffer when they view rotating or swaying images, even if they are standing still. Optokinetic motion sickness is of particular concern to the civilian aviation industry as well as to military aerospace programs. In the United States, both the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have research programs for the prevention and treatment of optokinetic motion sickness.

Additional factors that may contribute to the occurrence of motion sickness include:

• Poor ventilation lowers a person's threshold for experiencing motion.
• Anxiety or fear also lowers the threshold.
• Food. Physicians recommend avoiding heavy meals of spicy or greasy foods before and during a trip.
• Alcohol. A drink is often thought to help calm the nerves, but in this case it could upset the stomach further. A hangover for the next morning's trip may also lead to motion sickness.
• Pregnancy. Susceptibility in women to vomiting during pregnancy appears to be related to motion sickness, although the precise connections are not well understood as of 2004.
• Genetic factors. Research suggests that some people inherit a predisposition to motion sickness. This predisposition is more marked in some ethnic groups than in others; one study published in 2002 found that persons of Chinese or Japanese ancestry are significantly more vulnerable to motion sickness than persons of British ancestry.

Often viewed as a minor annoyance, some travelers are temporarily immobilized by motion sickness, and a few continue to feel its effects for hours and even days after a trip (the "mal d'embarquement" syndrome). For those with constant motion sickness, it may not stop at all.