Seasickness has been plaguing mankind since we first took to the seas, tens of thousands of years ago. The stability of the body in relation to the boat is in conflict with the motion of the ocean, and our bodies react to that disconnect, sometimes violently. And it’s not just the sea, as modern life can give us the same reaction to air travel, space flight, self-driving cars, and virtual reality experiences.
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Motion sickness, as many point out, is not a sickness or a disorder by definition. Clinically, it’s “a natural response to unnatural conditions.” There is a point where it’s no longer “natural” and becomes an actual illness: if you can’t adapt, even after many exposures, and you feel sick for a long time after motion ceases, it’s a problem and an illness. However, unlike a fear of heights, and maybe even hiccups, the motion sickness reaction has no practical meaning. Evidence suggests it’s really just one big misunderstanding.
“The best explanation is that motion sickness is a bit like other sicknesses: to clear out poison,” says John Golding, a professor of applied psychology at the University of Westminster, England, presenting the most widely accepted reason for seasickness in his keynote speech at the conference. The poison-detector theory posits that dizziness and vomiting are backups, in case the taste buds or the gut’s chemosensory system fail to pick up on a poisoned meal—the wrong kind of mushroom, say, or too much alcohol. In a mobile environment, the part of the brain processing movement interprets the action as dizziness and, through neural pathways, alerts the “vomit center” located in the medulla, a part of the brain above the spinal cord. And with luck, there are a few moments before the signal kicks in so that you can consider the direction of the wind.
Remedies have been offered throughout history, with varying results, and scientists are still studying motion sickness to treat or prevent it. Read up on seasickness and what it really means at Hakai magazine. -via Metafilter
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Source: neatorama