John Golding, Professor of Applied Psychology, spoke to presenter Greg Foot on his BBC Radio 4 show Sliced Bread, which was later featured on BBC'S Morning Live, looking at why people suffer from motion sickness and if the options available to help people fight it actually work.
As part of the show, Greg Foot got the opportunity to use a moving chair that induces motion sickness which sits in Professor Golding’s laboratory and has been used to desensitise pilots to motion sickness. While the participant sits in the chair the speed can be controlled, meaning it can be sped up as time goes by before being slowed down once the person begins to feel nauseous.
To find out the best methods to avoid motion sickness, Foot first experienced the machine without taking any anti-sickness medication to get a baseline result. He then experienced it while wearing acupressure bands and finally he tried out using a controlled breathing technique. Without any aids and also whilst using the acupressure bands, he began to feel sick after six minutes. But using the controlled breathing method he was able to fight off the feeling of nausea for 10 and a half minutes.
During the interview Professor Golding explained why people suffer from this feeling in the first place. He said: “It is probably due to a mismatch between sensory information from your inner ears, from your eyes and from your body sense. If you’re on the deck of a ship and you can see the horizon, that’s good, but if you are below deck in the cabin, you no longer have a true horizon. You think the cabin is fixed around you but in fact your whole environment is moving.”
After Greg Foot tried out the different options, Professor Golding revealed that anti-sickness medication, and breathing techniques can all help prevent feeling motion sick, but that acupressure bands are less effective. He adds that some people may struggle more than others depending on age or genetics.
To find out if anti-motion sickness medications and techniques are really the next best thing after sliced bread, listen and watch the full interview on BBC Sounds and BBC iPlayer.
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