Causes of Motion Sickness

Movement and your brain

People tend to get motion sickness on a moving boat, train, plane, or car, but it’s also possible to get it when watching a moving scene on the big screen. Some people can get nauseous even thinking about take-off on a plane or boat.

Motion sickness happens when the inner ear, the eyes, and the deeper tissues of the body’s surface, called proprioceptors (pronounced pro-pri-o-cep-tors), send conflicting signals to the brain. The signals don’t get scrambled, though, when we walk, or move our bodies on our own.

But when we’re moving in a car, boat, or plane, the signals received by the eyes or the proprioceptors don’t match with those transmitted by the inner ear. And our sense of balance is thrown off.

Learn More About Symptoms