motion sickness

For some travelers, a catamaran sail off Oahu, Hawaii , or a camel ride through the desert in Morocco isn’t an enviable vacation experience. It’s an encounter with nausea, dizziness, and cold sweats. Motion sickness like this can happen to almost anyone, including children and dogs. Studies suggest that more than half of all people who ride in automobiles experience carsickness . Recent surveys of members of the Indian Navy , Icelandic fishermen , and South Carolina marine biologists indicate that up to 80 percent of individuals who work on boats get seasick sometimes. “We’re even seeing cybersickness now, with people looking at their phones when riding in the car or wearing glasses for a 3D movie,” says Andrea Bubka , a professor of psychology at Saint Peter’s University in New Jersey, who has extensively studied motion sickness. Here’s why motion sickness happens and what travelers can do to prevent it. Scientists aren’t sure why some people feel nauseated the second they step on a boat, while others can blithely read long novels while riding in the backseat of a car. But they have a few theories. Many scholars believe motion sickness is caused by sensory conflict, a discrepancy between what people see and what their bodies are experiencing. “Human beings did not evolve to travel in space shuttles and use virtual-reality video games,” says Marcello Cherchi, a neurologist at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Sensory conflict happens when your body feels the heaving of an ocean ferry or the jolting motion of a bus winding through the mountains and your eyes, ears, and other senses can’t catch up. This results in symptoms like a dry mouth, dizziness, upset stomach, or a pounding headache. However, other scientists believe that people get motion sick because they don’t instinctively change how they sit, stand, or walk in a moving mode of transport. That disconnect causes you to feel ill. Patricia Cowings (standing), a U.S. psychophysiologist who has extensively studied motion sickness, works with a test subject. Genetics might play a part, too. A 2015 study of 480,000 customers of DNA-testing company 23andme identified 413 genetic markers—many related to balance or eye, ear, and cranial development—that could make an individual predisposed to motion sickness. “And be careful what you eat when you travel,” says Bubka. Anything that upsets your stomach on dry land—eating too much (or too little), drinking excessive amounts of alcohol or caffeine—could be amplified by motion. “Do everything you can to be sure your view isn’t obstructed,” says Natascha Tuznik , a doctor who specializes in travel medicine at the University of California Davis. “Look at the horizon if you’re out to sea and sit in the front seat of the car where you can see the road and what’s coming.” Closely watching what’s coming helps your eyes and inner ears sync more quickly with other bodily functions. Commuters walk through a New York City subway station in 2017. Any form of transport—from trains to planes to boats—can induce motion sickness in humans. “The advantage is that these approaches don’t require medication,” says Cherchi. “The disadvantage is that they can entail considerable discomfort, at least initially.” People prone to motion sickness can also practice “trigger avoidance,” steering clear of activities that make them bilious. If long bus rides make you turn green, rent a car instead, then sit up front or drive yourself. Those prone to seasickness should take flat-water river cruises or choose larger oceangoing ships with smoother rides. Another way to combat travel-related nausea? Use an over-the-counter motion sickness drug (like Dramamine) or a doctor-prescribed Scopolamine patch (usually worn behind the ear). Both are anticholinergics, which block and inhibit the central nervous system to create a calming effect on the muscles in the stomach and bowels. However, these medicines only work if used a short time