We look forward to the holidays to start that journey that we have been preparing so much all year. Whether by car, train or plane, more than one person would like to save the trip. And some healthy people are prone to dizziness, a problem that, in medical terms, is known as motion sickness or “motion sickness”.
According to data from the Spanish Society of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery (SEORL CCC), motion sickness occurs in more than 40% of children between 7 and 12 years old when traveling by car or bus. Some studies tell us that more than half of people who travel by car suffer from motion sickness and that approximately two out of three people have suffered from motion sickness at some point in their lives. Why does it happen to us? Can we avoid it?
Motion sickness: the gap between what we see and what our body feels
Sensory conflict theory tells us that a key factor in motion sickness is our balance system, which is not maintained by a single organ but rather combines what we see and feel with the information it receives from the balance organ in our inner ears; this is what tells us exactly where we are.
We get dizzy because our senses are in conflict, that is, there is a mismatch between actual and expected sensory input. When we travel by car or any other means of transportation, some people misprocess the visual information they receive. In other words, the eyes, inner ear, and body send conflicting messages to the brain.
When we travel by car, our body remains still but the vehicle moves. And this is accentuated when we take a winding road or when driving is a little aggressive, that is, with sudden braking and more significant acceleration.
This would also explain why we don’t get dizzy in other situations, such as when we dance or why if we drive, we don’t get dizzy as much as if we were a passenger. When driving, we can better control and therefore anticipate the movements of the car than when we are passengers, which reduces the gaps between expected and perceived movements.
The brain receives conflicting messages from the parts of the body that detect movement: the proprioceptive, auditory, and visual senses. In other words, the proprioceptive senses tell us that we are not moving. Our inner ear, which helps us control our sense of balance, detects that we are moving and sends this message to our brain. And the visual senses depend on this: if we look outward, we will see that we are moving, but if we look inward, we are not.
This is what happens when we look at our cell phone in the car: the ear and movement part tells us that we are moving, but the message from our eyes tells us that we are still. If we do not look out the window, the inner ears perceive the movement, but the eyes maintain a static vision.
What does the brain do? It cannot process these conflicting messages and tries to determine which signal it is receiving is correct. We begin to feel dizzy and symptoms such as paleness, cold sweats or headaches appear. Although they are the most common, it is true that they vary from person to person since, in addition to these symptoms described, loss of appetite, apathy or excessive salivation may also appear. If the movement does not stop, these symptoms can end with nausea, retching and finally vomiting.
Some studies even tell us that genetics may also play a role in some cases and could predispose a person to motion sickness and others that certain disorders, such as migraines, also increase the risk of motion sickness.
What can we do to avoid dizziness?
We can try to minimize the risk of getting dizzy if we make sure that the information received by our nervous system is as coherent as possible. According to this research, conducted on several studies on motion sickness, motion sickness can be prevented through behavioral and environmental modifications. Some simplified measures include:
- Eat light before traveling. It is essential to avoid heavy meals and alcohol before and during the trip. We must keep in mind that anything we take before traveling and that causes stomach upset under normal conditions can be increased by movement.
- Avoid reading or looking at an electronic device. Put away anything that causes you to focus your gaze on one object and redirect your gaze outward, looking at objects in the distance or on the horizon. A wide view out the window reduces motion sickness because we are better able to anticipate upcoming movements. Additionally, observing what is happening to us helps our inner eyes and ears synchronize more quickly with other bodily functions. Looking closely at what is coming helps your inner eyes and ears synchronize more quickly with other bodily functions.
- close your eyes. In this way, we eliminate the visual information that interacts with the sensory information, the two most conflicting parts.
- Maintain a suitable temperatureThe interior of the car must be well ventilated before starting the journey and during the journey it is essential to maintain a temperature between 21ºC and 23ºC.
- Switch from passenger to driver. Position is essential to avoid dizziness. One of the best is the passenger seat or, if this is not possible, the middle of the rear seats. Although the most reliable option to avoid getting dizzy in a car is, whenever we can, to drive it ourselves, because if we do it and, for example, take a turn forward, we can anticipate the movement when we turn, while if we are passengers, we will react when the turn occurs.
If instead of the car we take a boat, a train or a plane, it can help us, in addition to everything described, to take measures such as traveling in the direction of travel. In these cases, where it is possible to sit in the opposite direction to the one in which we are going, it is better to sit in the direction of travel because the possibility of anticipating a future movement is reduced with this position and the risk of appearance decreases. nausea.
If, despite everything, dizziness is frequent, regardless of the means of transport, or if the symptoms are very intense, there is the possibility of resorting to a medication that helps us improve the symptoms of dizziness. Although we can buy them without a prescription, it is best to consult a doctor to tell us which one is best for us and at what dose.
