Travel Sickness

Travel sickness is a condition some people get when travelling where they feel sick, vomit or feel dizzy. It can happen during any form of transport but common examples include car or sea travel. Travel sickness can be reduced or even prevented by taking certain medicines before travelling. Travel sickness isn’t only restricted to car and sea travel, people can also get it on train journeys and air travel as well as on fairground rides and swings. Travel sickness is also a problem for astronauts, who can get it on missions. Travel sickness, is most common in children. However, many children become less susceptible as they get older.

The most common hypothesis for the cause of motion sickness is that it functions as a defense mechanism against neurotoxins. The area postrema in the brain is responsible for inducing vomiting when poisons are detected, and for resolving conflicts between vision and balance. When feeling motion but not seeing it (for example, in a ship with no windows), the inner ear transmits to the brain that it senses motion, but the eyes tell the brain that everything is still. As a result of the disconcordance, the brain will come to the conclusion that one of them is hallucinating and further conclude that the hallucination is due to poison ingestion. The brain responds by inducing vomiting, to clear the supposed toxin.

If one have travel sickness they may have several symptoms, including:
• feeling sick
• vomiting
• dizziness
• a headache
• sweating
• looking pale
• rapid breathing
• drowsiness

Travel sickness can be divided into three categories:
• Motion sickness caused by motion that is felt but not seen
• Motion sickness caused by motion that is seen but not felt
• Motion sickness caused when both systems detect motion but they do not correspond.