KnowHow Team explains: Motion sickness is the general overall feeling of illness some people experience in response to certain kinds of movement. This happens when the brain receives conflicting information from different body systems that help to maintain balance and equilibrium. For example, a person’s inner ears may send signals to the brain telling him that he is moving while his eyes may tell him that he is standing still. When the body receives such conflicting information, the brain struggles to make sense of it, and the person feels nauseated and dizzy and experiences motion sickness.

Conditions that may increase the risk of motion sickness are pregnancy, menstruation, poor health, a hangover or tiredness. Evidence suggests that motion sickness affects as many as 33-50 per cent of passengers on a flight with heavy turbulence and 100 per cent of cruise ship passengers in rough seas or conditions. Approximately 28 per cent of passengers travelling by bus also experience motion sickness.

The most common symptoms of motion sickness are dizziness, nausea and vomiting. These may range from being mild to completely incapacitating, depending on the person’s susceptibility and duration of the activity that is causing the symptoms.

Prevention is the best treatment for motion sickness, because the symptoms are difficult to alleviate once they have set in. A good rule is to try the simplest strategies first such as self-help, behavioural interventions and anti-motion sickness tablets.

The question was sent by Sunita Chawla via email