Motion Sickness: Why It Happens and How to Ease It

Who gets it

Motion sickness is common in people traveling by car, train, plane and especially boat. Anyone can get it, but it's more common in children, pregnant women and people taking certain medicines.

How it feels

It can start suddenly, with a queasy feeling and cold sweats, then lead to dizziness and nausea and vomiting.

Why it happens

Your brain senses movement through signals from your inner ears, eyes, muscles and joints. When those signals don't match, you can get sick. Reading your phone on a bus, for example, your eyes see something still while your inner ear feels motion.

What helps

• Sit where the ride is smoothest: the front seat of a car, the forward cars of a train, the upper deck of a boat, or a seat over the wing of a plane.
• Look into the distance instead of reading or looking at something inside the vehicle.

Sources

Based on "Motion Sickness," MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine, drawing on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a work of the United States government in the public domain.