Motion Sickness

Whoa! The thought itself is making me nauseous. I've had this problem forever and always had a hard time travelling around especially in buses and cars. To kill me, all you have to do is put me in the back seat of a moving vehicle on a long drive. Ughh! The thought is disturbing. This is torture. I can also never read in a moving vehicle. I might end up puking if I try to read something on my mobile or a book for anything more than 10 seconds. My small brain is not built for it. 

But this mechanism in the brain is an amazing thing. Let me tell you! Motion sickness is also called travel sickness. It is that uneasy feeling you get when you are travelling on a ship, bus, plane etc. You tend to get claustrophobic, dizzy, nauseous and experience fatigue. This is because the brain is unable to comprehend the relation between what your eyes see and what your ears, responsible for inner balance, sense. Your inner ear is also responsible for a sense of balance and they detect motion. But as your eyes cannot see motion. This conflict makes you sick.

The brain, the super hero immediately detects that something is wrong and as a defence mechanism against neurotoxins, a part in the brain known as 'area postrema' becomes responsible for inducing vomiting thinking that there is poison in the body, makes sure, it is sent out from the body. But in reality there are no toxins. It is automatically induced when there is a conflict in vision and balance. 

Neurotoxins??? Well, for instance, you are in a ship, your inner ear senses motion. But you can't see movement from your eyes. Your brain thinks that either your eyes or maybe your ears are hallucinating and comes to the conclusion that this hallucination is the result of ingesting poison. Immediately, the brain responds by making you nauseous and so you vomit thereby flushing out the illusionary toxins.

Hats off to the brain!! I know it's helping me, but by putting me through a lot of misery. Because of this, I avoid hill stations and mountains. Unless I am driving of course. There is also a way to get rid of this. You can look out of the window, get fresh air, take a pill to prevent vomiting or get a Rolls Royce and sit in the front seat.