The short answer
Turbulence on its own rarely makes anyone sick. Most passengers feel the bumps and go on reading. What turns the same bumps into nausea is a body that was primed before they arrived: by fear, by hours of bracing at the gate, by a screen that gives the eyes no horizon. In a cabin-simulator study of 124 passengers, the anxious group reported motion sickness from the first minutes of the flight, before any real motion. Change what primes the body and the bumps change too.
Watch a cabin in moderate turbulence. Half the passengers do not look up from their films. A few grip the armrest. One reaches for the bag. Same aircraft, same air. The bump is a constant; the body it lands on is the variable.
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What two passenger studies found
Researchers at a full-motion cabin simulator monitored 124 passengers through a short-haul flight with four segments, tracking anxiety and sickness as they went. People high in trait anxiety reported high inflight anxiety and a constantly high level of motion sickness from the first segment. People with only a history of motion sickness started low and climbed as the motion continued. The authors concluded that anxiety and susceptibility interact and shape how sickness develops over a flight.
On the Southern Ocean, 239 passengers travelling between Tasmania and Antarctic stations were surveyed over four years. Five factors were associated with getting seasick, and two of them lived in the head: expecting to be ill, and anxiety mid-trip. The sea was the same for everyone on board.
Myth
Turbulence makes you airsick. If the flight is bumpy, you will be sick.Fact: Most passengers feel the same bumps and feel fine. Nausea follows a body primed by fear, bracing and a screen with no horizon. In a 124-passenger simulator study, anxious passengers felt sick before the motion had built up.
What primes the body, and what unprimes it
- Fear. The alarm state slows the stomach and brings nausea on its own. Knowing what turbulence is, a comfort problem and not a safety one, takes some of the alarm away. The turbulence page explains it in one paragraph.
- Bracing since the gate. Hours of waiting with nothing to do is where anticipatory nausea builds. The 30 minutes before boarding is a list of things to do instead.
- No horizon. A screen or a book gives your eyes a still rectangle while your inner ear feels the drop. A window seat over the wing gives them the wing to watch, which is the motion your body is feeling.
- Heat, hunger, alcohol, tiredness. Each one lowers the threshold at which motion becomes nausea.
- Surprise. Check the turbulence forecast the day before. A bump you expected at the hour you expected it is a different bump.
When the sign comes on
Vent on your face. Screen away. Eyes on the wing or closed with your head against the headrest. Breathe out slowly for longer than you breathe in, and count. If you use Dizzout, press play on Motion Sickness Relief from your seat; Dizzout states relief in about 90 seconds. If you knew the bumpy stretch was coming, Prepare Me in the 10 to 30 minutes before it is the other half of the plan. Tell the crew if you feel unwell; they have seen it every week of their working lives.
Ready before the seatbelt sign
Stop Motion Sickness Now
Dizzout is drug-free sound therapy through any headphones, for passengers. Run Prepare Me in the 10 to 30 minutes before the stretch the forecast flags, and Motion Sickness Relief from your seat when the bumps start, with relief in about 90 seconds. Free to download.
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Frequently asked questions
Does turbulence cause motion sickness?
It can, but most passengers feel the same bumps and feel fine. What turns turbulence into nausea is a body primed beforehand by fear, bracing and a screen with no horizon. Change the priming and the bumps change too.
Why does turbulence make me feel sick when others are fine?
Usually a combination: you are more susceptible to motion, you were anxious before the bumps started, and your eyes were on a screen with no horizon. In a 124-passenger simulator study, anxious passengers reported sickness from the first minutes of the flight.
Is turbulence dangerous?
Not to the aircraft, which is built and tested for far more than passengers ever feel. The risk is to people not belted in when a strong patch arrives, which is what the seatbelt sign is for.
Someone you know gets motion sick?
Send them this guide. It might be the trip it saves.
Your next question, probably
Turbulence anxiety and nausea, in full
Why fear turns bumps into nausea
Not your question? Will my route be bumpy?How do I calm down on the plane?Which seat moves least?
About this article
by the Dizzout editorial team.
- Stelling et al., 2021: trait anxiety and the temporal progression of motion sickness in 124 cabin-simulator passengers (Ergonomics)
- Besnard et al., 2021: Motion sickness lessons from the Southern Ocean, 239 passengers (Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance)
- CDC Yellow Book: Motion sickness
This article is informational and not medical advice. Dizzout is a wellness app for motion sickness and does not treat anxiety. If fear is stopping you from flying, talk to a doctor or therapist.
