[nilmot (OP)]

Does anyone know why we get car sick?

It's just that ever since I've arrived in UK, I get car sick when I travel by car especially my mum's car[xx(]. I don't usually get car sick before and don't know why I do now.[?]

Tom

[Quantumcat]

I know I know I know I know!!!!!!!!!

You get dizzy when you stop spinning, because the signals from the balance mechanisms in your ear (like a leveler for buildings, like a bag of liquid, tells you if you're upside down or not) are different (the liquid keeps spinning round in the bag or whatever it is when you're still) to your eyes, which see the world as not spinning. The liquid tries to make your brain see that the world is spinning when it's not and ends up utterly confusing itself and you end up feeling very ill indeed. Small children often get more dizzy than adults because their balance mechanisms aren't working to full capacity yet and their brains get confused more easily.

Same thing with the car sickness, if you are looking at a book or a game boy or whatever, your ear's liquid bag sloshes around because you're moving, while your eyes tell you that you're perfectly still. Your brain confuses itself trying to work out how it could possibly be and you end up feeling really ill. If you look straight ahead, your eyes match what your ears feel and your brain is not confused, and you feel well again. Personally, I can't read in a car for more than half an hour without feeling like vomiting, so I take 5-minute staring-at-the-road breaks

You get seasick also because most people tend to stare at the horizon, which is a fixed line of course. It is perfectly straight and unmoving but their ears tell them they're bouncing up and down on waves. Also on little boats you often go up on one big wave/ripple thing while another bside you goes down, so your brain gets confused easily that way too.

I don't know exactly how sea/air/car sickness pills work, maybe they deaden the nerves in your balance liquid bag thing so it can't tell what's happening to your body.

Also a tip, if you're in a cabin in a ship and you can't see the waves but feel yourself going up and down, close your eyes and imagine exactly what is happening that causes the sensations and your brain is tricked into seeing it as your sight and doesn't get confused.

Am I dead? Am I alive? I'm both!

[nilmot (OP)]

Thanks Quantum[] that was a very clear explaination, I'll give it a try.

What I was wondering is how come I don't get car sick before and I'm getting car sick now? Does the road matters? I mean roads in UK have more slopes and hills, going up and down from time to time. Roads in Taiwan near where I lived were generally flat or flat...ish.

Tom

[Quantumcat]

Maybe because the car makes bumps more exaggerated and the differencebetwen what you see and feel is so different that your brain can't cope and you get sick.

Am I dead? Am I alive? I'm both!

[nilmot (OP)]

That might be it, when someone is driving a car going over a little speed bump, the bump is not high but that actual car moved a lot.

I don't think closing your eyes and trying to imagine what the roads should look like is going to help. I found that closing your eyes made you more aware of other senses, and I'll try to concentrate on getting rid of that crap vomitting feeling but ending up making it worse.

Tom

[Donnah]

Tom, do you like black licorice?  Licorice can help settle a queasy stomach and I wonder if it would work for car sickness.  Want to give it a try?  You'd have to get the kind with real licorice in it and not just flavoring (Panda brand is good).

[nilmot (OP)]

How did we get those queasy stomach feeling? I know we get the feeling because our digestive system are moving like butterfly in the stomach when we have an adrenaline rush the blood moved away from the digestive system and the intestines relax and move which gave it that uncomfortable feeling but I don't think that's related to this topic.

Angel mentioned that when you are at the top of a rollercoster ride and rushing down. You get those feeling because your body moved so suddenly but your stomach stayed in it's original place for a short while. Almost as if your stomach have moved upward. Maybe it's the same with this car thing.

Ermm..what are licorice? Maybe I've tasted them before but I don't know what they were called in English.

Thanks for the advice anyway Donnah.

Tom

[Quantumcat]

licorice is a black sweet, a little chewy, sort of rubbery. Has a special taste. Some people like it some people absolutely hate it. It's made with this stuff that I think starts with A but I can't for the life of me remember its name.

Am I dead? Am I alive? I'm both!

[nilmot (OP)]

Mmm...I think I need to taste it to remember.

Tom

[cuso4]

You know what it is! You've tasted them before! You know one of them Basette sweets, a cube with black and white tripes?

Angel

[nilmot (OP)]

??

Nope can't remember.

Tom

[Ians Daddy]

I think the flavoring is anise. I think it's also a base in root-beer / sasparila. Black "Twizzlers", if you have those there.
I hate when you get a white jelly bean and it's not that bubblegum flavor, but instead, licorice.
Licorice is a root and can be dried and chewed on. It looks like a cinnamon stick, but tastes like a tire.

[nilmot (OP)]

A root, licorice is a plant?

Mmm.. that might rings a bell.

Tom

[Donnah]

Yes, licorice is a root and I love the taste.  But then I've never chewed on a tire, so I don't really know how they compare[].

Anise seeds do taste similar, but anise is related to the carrot.  I think that stevia (a leaf used as a powerful sweetener, 32 X stronger than sugar) also tastes similar, but that's just my opinion.

I try to solve medical problems using nutrition and/or psychology first, and use allopathic medicine as a last (but vitally important) resort.

[Ians Daddy]

Allopathic? Is that the same as homeopathic?
I'm very intrigued by the mind's ability to heal the body. I hate taking medications because it seems that I'm supersensitive to most chemicals. I do prefer the natural way if at all possible.

[Ians Daddy]

Tires are not very tasty. But then I guess it would depend on the tire.

[pat]

What do you call a tyre made from 365 condoms ?

Goodyear !

[Ians Daddy]

Hahahaha....[]

[Exodus]

quote:Originally posted by pat

What do you call a tyre made from 365 condoms ?

Goodyear !

For extra grip you can use ribbed ones! []

Resident Tour Operator - The Naked Scientists

[Donnah]

Sure, if you need to get a grip.

Ronnie, allopathic medicine is what your doctor practices.