However, it is uncertain as to why this may be the case.Ī long flight with plenty of turbulence may leave you feeling ill. Age and sex may also affect likelihood of experiencing motion sickness – with some research suggesting experiences peak around nine or ten years of age, and are more common in women. Certain disorders – including migraines and inner ear diseases, such as Ménière’s disease – increase the likelihood of experiencing motion sickness. But differences in how well a person’s vision and balance systems work will affect how they may feel in different types of vehicles. Motion sickness affects people differently, and there’s no single reason why some people experience motion sickness more frequently than others. While this makes sense – especially since we can’t always move around when travelling – there isn’t much evidence to support this theory. Rather, it’s our inability to adjust our posture to reduce this mismatch of sensory information that makes us feel nauseous. According to this theory, motion sickness doesn’t happen just because of the mismatch of sensory information. This theory is currently considered the strongest explanation for motion sickness – though we’re still trying to understand the brain mechanisms that cause motion sickness.Īn alternate (but related) theory suggests that it’s all down to controlling posture. For example, travelling in a car on a smooth, straight road will cause less sensory mismatch than travelling on a winding road with lots of potholes. This is also why the less sensory mismatch we experience in a vehicle, the less likely we are to experience motion sickness. This is why it’s thought that motion sickness is caused by a mismatch of information from our senses – with our eyes and inner ear telling our body that we’re moving, even though we’re actually sitting stationary. If the information from our eyes, inner ears and touch or pressure senses doesn’t match up, it can make us feel off-balance or unsteady. Rather, it combines what we’re seeing and feeling with information from the balance organ in our inner ears, which helps our balance system work out exactly where we are. Balance is not maintained by just one single sensory organ. The sensory conflict theory proposes that a key player in motion sickness is our balance system. Nor is it clear why some people only experience motion sickness in certain types of vehicles and not others.īut there are two theories that might help explain what’s going on. But it’s not completely clear why some people can read and play games on their phone during a long drive while others spend the journey desperately trying not to be sick. If you’re someone who suffers from motion sickness, travelling in many types of vehicles can be difficult thanks to a host of symptoms like dizziness, lightheadedness, nausea and even vomiting.
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