Travel or motion sickness is a condition some people get when travelling where they feel sick, vomit or feel dizzy. 

It can happen during any form of transport but common examples include car or sea travel. You can also get it on train journeys and air travel as well as on fairground rides and swings. Travel sickness is also a problem for astronauts, who can get it on missions.

Symptoms get better when the motion stops. They also tend to get better or go away completely on long trips, such as on a ship as you’re likely to adapt to the motion and gradually recover.

Although travel sickness isn’t fully understood, research suggests that it’s caused by movements when travelling, such as tilting and shaking, which can confuse your brain.

Normally, your vestibular system, which is located in your inner ear, keeps track of your body, head and eye movements. This helps you to change position and control your balance. However, during travel, the motion your vestibular system senses doesn’t match what you see. This conflict between the senses is thought to cause travel sickness. Anyone can get travel sickness and no one knows why some people are more sensitive than others.

There are various medicines you can take to alleviate travel sickness so do consult your doctor or pharmacist. However, there are a number of things you can do to help yourself as well. 

Your position can affect your chances of getting travel sickness - wherever possible, drive a car instead of being a passenger, sit in the front seat of a car or bus, sit over the wing in an aircraft, or sit in the centre of a ship or on the upper deck.  Keep your eyes fixed on the horizon, keep your head still, don’t read (try listening to story tapes instead), open a window where possible to let fresh air in, don’t smoke before or while travelling, don’t drink alcohol before or while travelling and try to distract yourself ie. play travel games or listen to music. 

Some people find that lying down helps but this isn’t always possible if you are travelling by car or plane. Others find that the best way to deal with travel sickness is to close their eyes and go to sleep.