Chandana Chandra explains: If you’ve ever had nausea, dizziness and vomitting while riding in a car, train, airplane or ship, you’d know exactly what motion sickness feels like.

The problem occurs when the inner ears, the eyes and other areas of the body that detect motion send conflicting messages to the brain. The inner ears store a liquid in them which help you sense whether you’re moving, and which way you’re heading. The eyes let your body know the direction in which you are moving. The skin receptors tell your brain which parts of your body are touching the ground. Muscles and joint sensory receptors tell your brain if you’re moving your muscles and which position your body is in.

The brain gets an instant report from these different parts of your body and tries to put together a total picture about what you are doing at a particular moment. But if any of the pieces of this picture doesn’t match, you can get motion sickness. For example, if you’re riding in a car and reading a book, your inner ears and skin receptors will detect that you are moving forward. However, your eyes are looking at a book that isn’t moving, and your muscle receptors are telling your brain that you’re sitting still. So the brain gets a little confused. When this happens, you might feel really tired or dizzy.

And if you’re feeling scared or anxious, your motion sickness might get even worse.

The question was sent by P.S. Paul from Jamdoba