Motion Sickness Glossary

Reviewed August 2026

Motion sickness

A common condition caused by a sensory mismatch between the inner ear (which detects motion) and the eyes (which may see a still view). The brain interprets the disagreement as poisoning and triggers nausea as a defense. Also called kinetosis or travel sickness.

Kinetosis

The medical name for motion sickness, from a Greek word meaning to move. Car sickness, seasickness and airsickness are all forms of kinetosis. Seasickness has a name of its own too: naupathia, from the Greek words for ship and suffering.

Car sickness

Motion sickness experienced specifically in cars, also written carsickness. It is what people mean when they say they get carsick or car sick. Most common in children aged 2-12 and backseat passengers. Often triggered by reading or phone use during travel.Car sickness: causes and what helps

EV sickness (Tesla sickness)

The informal name for car sickness that passengers feel in electric cars, also called electric car sickness. People who say they get EV sick, or Tesla sick in a Tesla, are describing ordinary motion sickness. The likely extra triggers are strong regenerative braking and a quiet cabin, which give a passenger fewer cues to predict when the car will slow.Why electric cars can make passengers carsick

Seasickness

Motion sickness on boats and ships, caused by rolling and pitching motion. In a large survey of passengers at sea, 21% felt slightly unwell and 7% vomited; in genuinely rough seas the rate approaches everyone aboard. Bigger ships and midship low-deck cabins produce less perceived motion. Also called mal de mer or naupathia.

Airsickness

Motion sickness on airplanes, most often during turbulence and descent. Window-seat passengers over the wing typically feel the least motion. Also written air sickness, and often searched as plane sickness or flight sickness.Airsickness: causes, seats and what helps

Sick bag (barf bag)

A small, usually plastic-lined bag that airlines and boat operators give passengers to be sick into. Also called an airsickness bag, emesis bag or motion sickness bag. Barf bag is the informal name.

Cybersickness (VR sickness)

Motion sickness from virtual reality. Caused by the reverse sensory mismatch: the eyes see motion but the body stays still. In a controlled study, 65.2% of participants experienced it during a 10-minute immersion and 22.8% could not finish. Most people build tolerance ("VR legs") over repeated short sessions.

Simulator sickness

Motion sickness in flight and driving simulators. The simulator shows motion it can only partly reproduce, so what you see and what you feel disagree. Sim sickness is the short form gamers and sim racers use. It is closely related to cybersickness.VR sickness and what helps

Screen sickness (scroll sickness)

Motion sickness from a moving screen while your body stays still: scrolling a feed, watching first-person footage or a parallax website. Also called scroll sickness, digital motion sickness or visually induced motion sickness. It is the flat-screen form of cybersickness.Screen motion sickness, screen by screen

Vestibular system

The sensory system in the inner ear that tracks motion, balance, and spatial orientation. Consists of three fluid-filled semicircular canals plus two otolith organs in each ear: five sensors total per side.

Sensory mismatch

The conflict that causes motion sickness: the vestibular system in the inner ear, the eyes, and the proprioceptive sense of body position give the brain disagreeing reports about how the body is moving. The brain pattern-matches this to ancient poisoning signals and triggers nausea.

Semicircular canals

Three small fluid-filled hoops in each inner ear, oriented at right angles. They detect rotational motion of the head by sensing how fluid sloshes against hair cells.

Otolith organs

Two structures in each inner ear (utricle and saccule) containing calcium-carbonate crystals that detect linear acceleration and gravity.

Sound therapy

The use of precisely calibrated audio, played through ordinary headphones, as a drug-free approach to motion sickness. Because it needs no view of the horizon, it can be used with the eyes closed and after symptoms have already started. Used in apps like Dizzout.

Dimenhydrinate (Dramamine)

An over-the-counter antihistamine used to prevent motion sickness. Onset 30-60 minutes. Causes significant drowsiness; not recommended for drivers.

Meclizine (Bonine)

An over-the-counter antihistamine for motion sickness. Slower onset than Dramamine but longer duration (up to 24 hours) and less sedating.

Scopolamine

A prescription anticholinergic medication, typically delivered via a transdermal patch applied behind the ear. Lasts up to 72 hours. Side effects include dry mouth and blurred vision. Not recommended during pregnancy.

Acupressure wristband

A band designed to press the P6 acupressure point on the inner wrist, reported by many users to reduce nausea. Sea-Bands is the most common brand. Evidence is mixed; risk profile is zero.

Sopite syndrome

A subtle form of motion sickness with drowsiness, fatigue, low motivation, and mood changes instead of nausea. Often unrecognized because it lacks the classic symptoms.How long sopite syndrome lasts, and what helps

Space motion sickness

Motion sickness that many astronauts get in their first days of weightlessness, when head movements send the inner ear signals it has never met on the ground. Also called space adaptation syndrome. Most adapt within several days.

Land sickness

The rocking or swaying feeling that stays with you after you step off a boat, also written landsickness. Your brain keeps predicting a swell that has stopped. For almost everyone it fades within hours to a couple of days. The rare form that lasts much longer is mal de débarquement syndrome.Land sickness: why the ground still rocks

Mal de débarquement syndrome (MdDS)

A rare condition where the rocking or swaying sensation persists for days, weeks, or months after disembarking from a cruise or other long voyage. Distinct from seasickness itself; tends to fade on its own but can require vestibular therapy.

Vestibular migraine

A type of migraine featuring episodes of vertigo or motion sensitivity, with or without typical migraine headache. Lifetime prevalence in the general population is reported at roughly 1%. Sufferers are usually more prone to ordinary motion sickness as well.

Sea legs

Colloquial term for the adaptation to ship motion that develops over hours to days at sea. Once "sea legs" set in, motion sickness usually resolves for the duration of the voyage.

VR legs

Colloquial term for the tolerance to VR motion that develops over repeated short sessions. Once a user has "VR legs," cybersickness usually diminishes substantially. No trial has fixed how long it takes, and it varies widely between people.

Motion cues

Visual cues that help the brain anticipate motion. Apple's iOS 18 Vehicle Motion Cues feature (launched 2024) adds animated dots to the phone screen that respond to vehicle motion, reducing the sensory mismatch when reading in a car.

Area postrema

A small region in the brainstem that sits outside the blood-brain barrier and acts as a chemical and signal alarm. It is the brain area that triggers nausea in response to vestibular sensory conflict (and to actual toxins).

View bobbing

A camera effect in first-person games that sways the view up and down with each step. Minecraft calls the setting View Bobbing and has it on by default, so your eyes see a sway your inner ear never feels. Turning it off is the single change most Minecraft players notice.How to turn off View Bobbing in Minecraft

Head bob (camera bob)

The same camera effect as view bobbing, under the names most other games use: head bob, head bobbing or camera bob. The camera rocks up and down to simulate footsteps while your head sits still. Many games let you switch it off, or turn it down as far as it goes, in their camera or accessibility settings.Head bob and camera shake: what to change

Camera shake (screen shake)

A deliberate jolt of the camera on hits, recoil, explosions or heavy landings. Your eyes see the view lurch while your body feels nothing, the same mismatch as head bob in short bursts. Games label it camera shake or screen shake, and many let you turn it off or drag it close to zero.Head bob and camera shake: what to change

Motion blur

A graphics effect that smears the image during fast camera movement, added to make low frame rates look filmic. The smear arrives during fast turns, exactly when your eyes are hunting for a stable point to hold onto. For many people, turning it off helps, and it costs nothing in gameplay.Does turning off motion blur help motion sickness?

Field of view (FOV)

How much of the game world the camera shows, measured in degrees and often shortened to FOV. On a flat screen a narrow field of view magnifies motion, so the advice is to raise it, often to between 90 and 105 on a desktop monitor. VR headsets are the exception: their comfort modes narrow the view while you move.Higher or lower FOV for motion sickness?

Vection

The feeling that you are moving when only what you see is moving, like the train beside yours pulling away while yours stands still. A moving screen can produce it while you sit still: your eyes report motion and your inner ear reports none. That conflict is the one behind screen sickness and VR sickness.Screen motion sickness: why a moving screen is enough

Regenerative braking

In electric and hybrid cars, the motor slows the car as soon as the driver lifts off the accelerator, recovering energy as it does. The deceleration feels stronger and more constant than coasting in a gas car, and many passengers report it as a motion sickness trigger. Lowering the regen setting, where the car offers one, can help.Best and worst cars for motion sickness, compared

One-pedal driving

A driving mode where regenerative braking is strong enough to slow the car to a stop without the brake pedal. The car slows firmly whenever the driver lifts off the accelerator. Some cars let the driver turn it down or switch it off, and our car guides list strong one-pedal deceleration as a trait to test carefully with motion-sensitive passengers.Best and worst cars for motion sickness, compared

Ship stabilizers

Fins below the waterline that move to counteract a ship's roll, the side to side motion most people notice first. They reduce roll, not pitch, the fore and aft motion felt at the bow, so a stabilized ship can still move in a heavy swell. Most modern cruise ships have them.Motion sickness on cruise ships, ship by ship

Midship cabin

A cabin near the middle of the ship's length, halfway between bow and stern. A ship pitches and rolls around its center like a seesaw around its pivot, so a midship cabin on a low deck swings through the smallest arc. Our cruise guides suggest one for people who get seasick, as a tie-breaker rather than a promise.Which part of a cruise ship has the least motion?

Snap turning

A VR comfort option that turns your view in fixed steps instead of a smooth rotation. Rotation is worse than forward movement for most people, and snap turning cuts the camera between angles rather than sweeping it.VR comfort settings, in the order that helps most

Comfort vignette (tunneling)

A VR comfort option that darkens the edges of your view while you move, so less of the moving scene reaches your eyes. VR games call it a vignette, tunneling, tunnel vision or comfort mode. It runs the other way from flat-screen advice, which is to widen the field of view.VR comfort settings, in the order that helps most