Nausea

[Bazile]

If i'm a passenger in a vehicle, i cannot for example , be reading a book , without getting a feeling of nausea .
I have to be looking looking around or out the window .

Why is that ?

[woofgang]

I am the same. I was told its because if you look out of the window and see the movement, that agrees with the inner ear feedback that your balance system is giving your brain. If you try to read a book or a map then your brain is struggling to see and interpret something that is still while your inner ear mechanism is telling your brain that it should be "seeing" movement.

[Fibonacci]

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-does-reading-in-a-mov/

http://www.wikihow.com/Avoid-Nausea-when-Reading-in-the-Car

[woofgang]

When my DH was alive he drove and I would map read except I did it dreadfully badly because it made me feel sick. He bought me one of the first in car GPS systems, it cost a fortune and weighs a ton. That's true love!

[The Builder]

I think Woofters has got it right. I'm the same. Ok driving, but as a passenger I have to sit in the front seat staring straight ahead.

...and don't get me started on ferry crossings :o(

[mazie]

It's the same at sea. In really choppy weather its always best to be on deck and focusing on the horizon... Well for me it is, it stops me getting sea sick

[woofgang]

oddly I spent many years at sea travelling with my husband, out there in all weathers on many sizes and types of ship, never felt even slightly sick.

[Postdog]

First answer has got it pretty sussed. As some know I have reasons for dizziness, and when on the move, in a car or on Madge the mobility scooter, I have to continually look around. The moment I focus on one thing, my brain tells me that I am still moving and weirdness kicks in. It gets counterbalanced so to speak when I move too.

[Sqad]

Complicated........but simply.......the inner ear (fluid) and the brain have to agree what is happening and when they are in conflict, then motion sickness is inevitable.

Bazile.......your eyes are telling your brain that you are reading a book and everything is fine......BUT....the endolymphatic fluid in your ears is "slopping" around telling your brain, that all is NOT well.

Who is the brain to believe?

Now, put down your book and look out of the car window and your brain sees the moving surroundings which you inner ear fluid has been telling it for some time and ALL is in agreement.

Any problem in the pathways of the inner ears, eyes and brain, will bring on dizziness or unsteadiness, nauaea or vomiting.

[Bazile]

So why does the inner ear and the liquid therein come into play here - there is the connection - but why is there that connection ?

[Bazile]

What i'm getting at is - i beleive that the endolymphatic fluid's purpose is to bathe the ear . So why does it have the effect stated ,on the brain ? - if you see what i mean

[Sqad]

\\\- if you see what i mean\\\

No I don't.

The inner ear doesn't need "bathing"........the fluid responds to the movements of the head forming "waves" which activate hair cells in the inner ear............via complicate pathways, the brain and its intracerebral connections can interpret these waves and give the body some idea as to it's position,even with the eyes closed.

[Bazile]

Right Ho - I see

[Sqad]

;-)

[woofgang]

wow! Me and Sqad agree!

[Sqad]

woofy,,,your answer is more scientific than mine..........;-) and is clearly candidate for ..."Best Answer."