Motion Sickness Lessons from the Southern Ocean

Three sea going vessels steamed side-by-side through slight seas off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii. A four-hour octagon was transmitted twice each day for three consecutive days while motion sickness symptomatology was recorded from eighteen enlisted men who alternated among the vessels. Dramatic differences in illness severity were obtained whether comparisons were made using objective evidence of vomiting episodes or subjective reporting of symptoms on questionnaires. Reliability of this scoring method was excellent (r = .95). In addition to face and construct validity, evidence is presented of the predictive validity of the scoring method in a separate octogonal steaming experiment; using a 95 ft. Coast Guard Patrol Boat in an equivalent experimental paradigm. This study showed significant covariance between the magnitude of motion sickness symptomatology and the encounter direction of the vessel to the primary swell (p less than .01). Additional, significant correlations were found ...

Journal of Vestibular Research, 2020

BACKGROUND: Individuals seem to be differently susceptible to motion-related sickness (motion sickness, visually induced sickness etc.). Investigations of the reasons for these different susceptibilities have revealed many potential factors that could predict individual susceptibility to motion-related sickness. OBJECTIVE: This paper attempts to conduct a comprehensive literature review on inter-individual predictors of susceptibility to motion-related sickness using systematic approaches. METHODS: After a systematic literature research, titles and abstracts of 1778 publications were screened for relevance. Reference lists of selected publications were searched for additional studies. This procedure yielded 184 relevant publications. RESULTS: The identified predictors were clustered into demographic, physiological and psychological aspects. Among these predictors, the factors gender, length of velocity storage and anxiety showed the greatest predictive power. In addition, individual susceptibility to motion-related sickness is also to a large extent dependent on the degree of habituation to the aversive stimulus. CONCLUSIONS: Some of the identified influencing factors seem to have different effects on physically and visually induced motion sickness. More research is needed to close gaps, especially on predictive factors of visually induced motion sickness.

2020

Background Novel therapies are needed for the treatment of mo%on sickness given the inadequate relief, and bothersome and dangerous adverse effects of currently approved therapies. Neurokinin-1 (NK1) receptor antagonists have the poten%al to be effec%ve in improving the symptoms of mo%on sickness, given the involvement of Substance P in nauseogenic and eme%c pathways and the expression of NK1 receptors in the gastrointes%nal system. Here, we evaluated the efficacy of tradipitant, a novel NK1 receptor antagonist, in preven%ng mo%on sickness in variable sea condi%ons. Methods A total of 126 adults par%cipated in the Mo%on Sifnos Study. Groups of par%cipants were assigned to one of seven boat trips las%ng approximately four hours on the Pacific Ocean. Par%cipants were randomized 1:1 to tradipitant 170 mg or placebo and completed the Mo%on Sickness Severity Scale (MSSS) every 30 minutes, in addi%on to other assessments. Severity of mo%on sickness was assessed with the incidence of vomi%ng and the MSSS. Results Par%cipants on tradipitant had a significantly lower incidence of vomi%ng as compared to those on placebo across all boat trips (tradipitant=17.5%, placebo=39.7%, p=0.0039). For trips exposed to rough sea condi%ons, the difference in the incidence of vomi%ng between the groups was more drama%c (tradipitant=15.79%, placebo=72.22%, p=0.0009). Across these trips, mo%on sickness symptoms were significantly lower in the tradipitant group compared to the placebo group (tradipitant=3.19, placebo=4.57, p=0.0235).

Journal of Travel Medicine, 1998

Motion sickness is a debilitating but usually shortlived illness which indiscriminately affects air, sea, road and space travelers. Only deaf mutes with nonfunctioning labyrinths are known to be immune to the malady. When man is exposed to an atypical force environment, the delicate harmony of the input from the sensors of the balance system is disrupted. The degree of motion sickness experienced can range from mild discomfort to severe and debilitating sickness. O f the normal population, 5% will suffer severely, 5% will be hardly affected, and the rest will suffer moderately from motion sickness.A consistent research finding is that women are more susceptible to the illness than men, and appear to have a higher susceptibility near the onset of menstruation or during pregnancy. This susceptibility increases to a maximum between the age of 12-21 years and is rare before the age of2 years.Age does not infer immunity to disruptions of normal motion, but incidence of travel sickness decreases between the ages of 21 and 40 years. The mildest condition of motionsickness is known as the Sopite syndrome, in which symptoms are limited to some gasping, drowsiness, a decreased interest in the local environment, and a tendency towards physical inactivity. What Causes Motion Sickness? Motion sickness is considered to be a physiological vertigo.The exact cause is stdl not understood despite much research, particularly related to the space program. It appears to arise tiom stimulation of the labyrinthine sense organs over a period oftime in an intense manner to,whch the body is not accustomed. I t may be related to a con

International Journal of Human Factors Modelling and Simulation, 2011

This is the first part of a two-part paper in which a new theoretical approach for predicting motion sickness is shown and experimentally validated.

Applied Ergonomics, 1978

This paper reviews some of the more important theoretical and practical considerations relating to the widespread problem of motion sickness. A brief outline is given of the sensory rearrangement theory which seeks to define the essential nature of the nauseogenic stimulus. A wide range of provocative situations is classified as involving either a visual-inertial conflict, or a canal-otolith conflict or both. A number of behavioural measures by which the passenger can minimise the risk of motion sickness are described. Also considered are quantitative studies of vertical oscillatory motion, factors influencing motion sickness susceptibility (sex, age, exposure-history, receptivity and adpatability and personality characteristics), and the paper concludes with recommendations regarding the most effective use of anti-motion sickness drugs.

PLOS ONE

Background Motion sickness is characterized by nausea and vomiting among a constellation of symptoms. Symptom severity is dynamic and distressing. Most validated motion sickness scales are time-intensive and effortful, with alternative scales having uncertain performance or non-specific measures. A validated instrument allowing for facile, rapid assessment of core motion sickness symptom severity would therefore be valuable. We assessed the performance of the Motion Sickness Severity Scale (MSSS), a six-item questionnaire designed to measure real-time motion sickness symptoms. Methods MSSS construct validity was assessed as a secondary analysis of data from 63 healthy participants without antiemetic treatment in a clinical trial (Unique Identifier = NCT03772340) conducted to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Tradipitant—a novel neurokinin-1 receptor antagonist—in the treatment of motion sickness. Clinical outcome assessments included the MSSS, the Patient Global Impression of Seve...

Autonomic Neuroscience, 2006

Motion sickness can be caused by a variety of motion environments (e.g., cars, boats, planes, tilting trains, funfair rides, space, virtual reality) and given a sufficiently provocative motion stimulus almost anyone with a functioning vestibular system can be made motion sick. Current hypotheses of the 'Why?' of motion sickness are still under investigation, the two most important being 'toxin detector' and the 'vestibular-cardiovascular reflex'. By contrast, the 'How?' of motion sickness is better understood in terms of mechanisms (e.g., 'sensory conflict' or similar) and stimulus properties (e.g., acceleration, frequency, duration, visual-vestibular time-lag). Factors governing motion sickness susceptibility may be divided broadly into two groups: (i) those related to the stimulus (motion type and provocative property of stimulus); and (ii) those related to the individual person (habituation or sensitisation, individual differences, protective behaviours, administration of anti-motion sickness drugs). The aim of this paper is to review some of the more important factors governing motion sickness susceptibility, with an emphasis on the personal rather than physical stimulus factors.

life science journal, 2020

Motion sickness is an ancient problem associated with transportation (ships and other vehicles), which is affecting humans since ages. Motion sickness is characteristically occurring during abnormal movements induced by the motion and when there is a conflict between various senses such as visual, vestibular and motor system. Depending on the type of motion, various kinds of sicknesses, such as air sickness, car sickness, train sickness, seasickness, etc. may occur. A very less per cent of individuals are highly susceptible to motion sickness and very less per cent of individuals are highly insusceptible for motion sickness. However, most of the population comes in between. The primary symptoms of motion sickness include nausea, vomiting, wanes, and cold sweating. Varieties of drugs are available to reduce susceptibility to motion sickness. However, nausea, pallor, sweating, headache, dizziness, malaise, increased salivation, apathy, drowsiness, belching, hyperventilation and stomac...

Journal of Marine Science and Technology, 2011

Subjective vertical (SV) conflict theory postulates that motion sickness is elicited in all situations that lead to a difference between the sensed and subjective verticals. The sensed vertical is Earth’s gravity as perceived by human sense modalities; the subjective vertical is also Earth’s gravity, but in accordance with the expectations of the central nervous system, based on past interaction with the spatial environment. The SV conflict models have been successfully used to predict motion sickness on board high speed passenger ferries. However, a recent EU project, COMPASS, indicated that the role of horizontal accelerations in the elicitation of motion sickness aboard contemporary vessels is as important as that of vertical accelerations. Consequently, this paper, using an extended statement of the SV conflict theory, proposes that SV conflict models can be further elaborated by explicitly incorporating the effects of horizontal accelerations (normal to gravity) experienced aboard contemporary vessels. It is hypothesized that the explanation of motion sickness variability can be improved by considering the combined effects of subjective vertical conflict and subjective horizontal conflict (the difference between the sensed and expected horizontal accelerations). After presenting the theoretical aspects of subjective vertical–horizontal (SVH) conflict model, this paper demonstrates its application to 7 field trials of 3 different vessels. The proportion of commuters getting seasick (i.e., motion sickness incidences, MSI) during each field trial, has been statistically compared with the values predicted by the physiological (SVH and SV) and descriptive sickness prediction models. In general, SVH conflict model is outperforming the descriptive models and displaying approximately 20% improvement over the SV conflict model.