Stuff You Should Know - Selects: How Motion Sickness Works

Episode Date: October 7, 2023

Motion sickness is the worst and hits about 25 to 40 percent of humans when they ride in cars, boats, or simply watch the wrong 3-D movie. Join us as we break down the science behind this nausea-inducing affliction in this classic episode.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you really want to know what's going on in this country heading into the 2024 election, you have to get away from the extremes and listen to the middle. Hi, Jan here in Kansas City, Missouri. On the podcast, the middle with Jeremy Hobson, I'll take calls live every week, elevating the voices of Americans who are so important when it comes to whos in power and what gets done. My name is Venkat, I'm calling you from Atlanta, Georgia. Listen to the middle with Jeremy Hobson on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. Join former 90210 star Brian Austin Greene, along with Dancing with the Stars fan favorite, Sharna Burgess, and Hollywood air-turned-life coach, Randy Spelling, as they navigate life, love, and the quest for happiness in the new podcast, Oldish. After a few high-profile relationships in a very public divorce, have I finally found

the secret to happiness and the key to a successful relationship? That's harpsaw, because most of that is with me. Listen to Oldish on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey everyone, it's your pal Josh and for this week's Selective, chosen our 2016 episode on motion sickness.

One of the worst non-interest, non-life threatening things that can happen to you. But don't worry, you won't get motion sickness just from listening, and maybe knowing a little more about it might help you avoid it. We can only hope. Enjoy. Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of I Heart Radio. Hey and welcome to the podcast, I'm Joshua Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant and Jerry's over there.

I'm speaking in a monotone kind of... Hey, dude. Hey, how's it going? It's going well. I'm not motion sick, so things are fine. Do you get motion sick? Sometimes I mean if the conditions are right, I was really surprised to find that not everybody gets motion sick. What are your conditions? the conditions are right. I was really surprised to find that not everybody gets motion sick.

What are your conditions? Poor ventilation and like lots of movement, backseat of a car. Okay. But anytime I read in a car, even like glancing at my phone on a map, really. If I have to read anything, it gets me very quick. So I've just learned how to do it. Like I can't do it. Yeah. I cannot do it.

So I don't. I get it a little bit too. I used to get it more, I think, when I was younger. Supposedly it's normal. Supposedly it is. But I remember a very specific story that my brother still laughs at. And by the way, boy, I'm glad I said that.

I owe my brother, my big brother, a big apology because I saw him over the weekend and he said, oh, by the way, I was just doing an old episode and he said you'd never been a groom's, a best man. I was the best man at my brother's wedding. Oh, how... Man, I felt like a jerk. Man, Scott, I'm sorry. I know. And what happened was when I said I hadn't,

I just like quickly scanned through my friends that have gotten married. And I didn't think about my brother. And I was his best man. Boy, I know man, what a jerk. Well, it's rectified. Well, I told them I was like, you're going to get a public apology. So there it is.

That's pretty public. Yeah, it's public as it gets You could have also started a score space website if you wanted It's really easy. I might do that. Yeah So anyway, there's this old story when we went to Disney Geez, which is the one where body wars is at? Should I ask Holly from stuff he missed in history class? She would know, she probably senses that someone's talking about Disney right now.

Body Wars either was or still is, I don't know if it's still there, one of those rides that you sit in, you know, it was one of those first sort of virtual things where they show you a movie and then they move the car. Like the amazing voyage or something, wasn't it? Yeah, you went inside a human body and were traveling around. I wanna say Disney World, but I can't remember. So I went in that and... Wait, you grew up in Atlanta,

I'm guessing you went to Disney World. Well, definitely was a Disney Land, but I don't know if it was Epcot or I see Universal Studios or Disney World. It was in Orlando. So from what I understand, we have a buddy who works for Disney and he set me straight on this before. And I think I've got it or Disney World. It was in Orlando. So from what I understand, we have a buddy who works for Disney and he set me straight on this before.

And I think I've got it. So Disney World is all of those. The magic kingdom is what you're specifying. So Disney World includes Epcot and Universal Studios. If I'm not mistaken, I really hope I'm not mistaken. And the magic kingdom is specifically the one with the castle. Right. If I did get that wrong Brandon I apologize. It's one with the castle all the weird adults that think their children

like Holly from stuff you missed an history class. So body wars anyway you travel through the body and I remember at one point I was like man it's it's getting hot in here and scouts like this is great. I was like I'm not feeling so good man. It's like, do they have the heat going? It's like, what are you talking about? It feels great. And I got, I didn't vomit, but I got really sick

and made it through the ride and left. And he still teases me to this day. He was like, it was temperature, air controlled. Yeah. And you thought it was like 90 degrees and they were like pumping in heat. It's funny, it got to you like that, like your own body. Cold sweats, the it got to you like that, like your own body.

Cold sweats, the whole feel. Yeah, that's bad. But generally, you actually did puke. No, no, no, I did not puke. Oh, you did. But generally, I don't, like it takes a certain thing, like a really hardcore roller coaster,

going in fast, fast circles. But I don't get sick on planes or the one cruise I went on, I didn't get sick. Yeah, but I don't get sick on planes or the one cruise I went on it and get sick Yeah, you know, I've gotten I've gotten sick before like on vacation, but and on planes It's usually fairly fleeting. It's when I introduce reading that it's like right you're in big trouble for a long time You can read on a plane though. I can yes, yeah Yeah, no, I think about it. It's reading in a car. I just got to stay away from that. But usually it does come about with like poor

ventilation, that kind of thing. Yeah, which is another trigger. It's a big one or like a rough odor or something like that. I'm sure of this. Things don't help. The thing is for as much as like we kind of commonly understand motion sickness Science really doesn't have a full explanation for it. I'm picturing little Josh Because riding backwards is bad and like a rumble seat in a station wagon in a in a Subaru brat with like your dad has like Salami socks on or something that stink what like the windows are rolled up. I don't know I was just trying to think it's something gross. Salami socks?

Like socks made of salami? Sure. Like, wouldn't that smell gross? He's wearing the skin of another person. Well, no, I was thinking socks. Salami smelled like old salami, but made of salami is even better. Right.

I think I'm just picturing you back there like reading your mad magazine, feeling bad. Yeah. Yeah, no, I do remember being a kid and figuring out, I can't read in cars. There was a period where I could, which is kind of surprising because, when you're younger, you're more susceptible to motion sickness.

Yeah. But I could read in the car while I was younger. And then probably around the time of puberty, I was like, can't do this anymore. So you went opposite. Yeah, weird. Yeah, well, like, can't do this anymore. So you went opposite. Yeah. Weird. Yeah. Well, maybe you developed your hips.

Right. Because that's a tease. We'll just leave that out there. All right. So 25 to 40% of people supposedly are susceptible to motion sickness. So weird. And it can happen on planes. It can happen.

It's weird. This one University of Maryland side, I went to, said, the following are the most common risk factors, riding in a car, boat, airplane, or space shuttle. Really? Yeah. Nords? I just like, they didn't even put the amusement park ride. They just went straight to space shuttle. You know one that I hadn't seen before, but apparently, as a thing, is I'm looking through a microscope. Yeah, I hadn't. That makes a little bit of sense though. Yeah, because the slide can move and your eyes are seeing movement but you're not moving. I don't get to you.

Like another nerdy motion sickness. Space shuttles and microscopes. So like you said, age between two and twelve, you're more likely and then you're also more likely to grow out of it after puberty. And one of the reasons that women are more motion sickness than men, or get motion sickness more than men, is because one of the theories is that after puberty, they develop more in the hips, men develop more in the chest, and I guess that makes a difference. They didn't really explain why though, did they? Well, it all has to do with sway theory,

which we'll talk about. That's right, sway theory. Yeah, but it is true that like women are more susceptible just on average to motion sickness than men are. Yeah, I saw some studies. Apparently also Asian women. Well, Asian period. Yeah, because Penn State did a study

and they put people in situations that make a motion sick or not Did you look into those? Oh, is it like a tilt a world dude? Like if you went in for just a clinical study like I'm gonna make some scratch And maybe they'll give me a cool drug or something. Yeah, and it turns out to be a motion sickness study You should leave no, I totally was so there's this thing called a Opti-kinetic drama, I believe is what it's called. No, I totally would. So there's this thing called the opticanetic drum, I believe, is what it's called. Oh, I did see that.

Yeah, opticanetic drum. I can handle that. It's like a drum, like a big drum that you sit inside of, and it's got vertical black and white painted stripes, and it spins around you. Crazy. And the motion, the movement is really emphasized, and like it's designed to make anybody motion sick

and that's how they induce motion sickness. And I saw another one where they use a chair that just kind of moves you around, whether you like it or not and it induces motion sickness. Like what a terrible thing to have happened to you. Man, there was a ride at Six Flags over Georgia growing up that they got rid of

because someone got hurt supposedly, where it's this barrel that you all get in, you stand, it's like kind of low ground, you stand against the wall. I love those. And it spins so fast, then they drop the floor beneath you. And this centrifugal force hold you against the wall. It's like a spin cycle in a washing machine.

You mean I was just talking about that the other day? It was awful. That was my favorite of all time. Really? Uh-huh. I just thought it was so cool. Well, the old story was that someone's leg got trapped when the floor came back up. I remember here that now that I look back, I'm sure that was a old lifestyle. Although I was on snopes the other day and I was reading an early article and they were talking about, you know, the urban legend about some girl who got scout because her hair got caught in a amusement park ride or something.

It actually happened. Really? Yeah. The girl's ponytail got caught in there and just got pulled right off of her head. Oh, man. I know, but it actually did happen. So it's possible someone's leg got sucked into the tilt

of the world. Well, but then what happens is it happened at every amusement park. Right, right. It just happened happened at every amusement park. Right, right. It just happened to my cousin's friend. Right. All right. So the Penn State study, they put people in these torture machines and interestingly, they did confirm 80% of Asian people got sick when it was less than 50% for Caucasian and non-Colocation. Which is really, it's very crazy,

but it kind of underscores a growing awareness among motion sickness researchers, a.k.a. the evil ones, that genetics play a big role in susceptibility to motion sickness. Well, yeah, because who are another couple of findings that lend to that, twins, they study were another couple of findings that led to that twins. They studied 200 sets of identical twins and

100% of the identical twins were both affected. Really? Yeah, and some of that, you know, they can't prove that it's genetics because it also could be the just where they were raised and how were they were raised, what's that called? Nurture. Environment. Environment, environmental. And if parents are both susceptible to motion sickness, they found that their children are five times more likely.

So it sort of points to genetics, but then other things point away from genetics. Like why would two people in the same family and the same conditions not get sick? Or why do two people period not get sick? Right. Under the same conditions. Yeah, I guess what I'm saying is...

Same salami, sock smell. Yeah, same backwards facing seat. Yeah, I guess what I'm saying is they haven't figured it out. No, they haven't. But if we do figure out that it's genetic, thanks to the magic of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing process, it's able to knock that right out for you. What else, pregnant? Yeah, pregnant women are more susceptible to it.

Women who are menstruating, I think, also are, and people who get migraines are more susceptible, and then people who sleep poorly are more susceptible to motion sickness. Yeah, it says if you're prone to nausea or vomiting, but I don't know if that's like a sort of a chicken or the egg thing. Yeah, so we're going to get into, again, we said science doesn't understand exactly what's going on here, but there's some good theories. I'm going to talk about them right after this. Our first call is Mary in Lexington, Kentucky. Mary, welcome to the middle. Hello and thanks for having me.

If you really want to know what's going on in this country heading into the 2024 election, you have to get away from the extremes and listen to the middle. Hi, my name is Venkade, I'm calling you for Atlanta Georgia. On the new podcast The Middle with Jeremy Hobson, I'm live every week taking your calls and focusing on Americans in the middle who are so important politically but are often ignored by the media. I did a lifetime democratic voter however I was raised by moderate Republicans from Michigan. Creating space for a civil conversation about the most contentious issues we face from climate change to artificial intelligence

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and always answer what's on your minds too. Just look for the brand new podcast on the iHeart Podcast Network, or wherever you listen. It's a brand new conversation that you won't want to miss. this. So, Chuck, let's talk about some theories for motion sickness because it's kind of two. Yeah. I saw, I think it was the St. Atlantic article you sent.

That was good. It's not so much science, it's a debate over, you know, the likelier explanation, but they actually kind of fit together. I think so. But if you ask the people apparently, he's the author in the Atlantic, it's called the mysterious science of motion sickness, he sort of pokes fun a little bit.

He's like to me, they sound sort of the same, but don't tell that to those people who believe one or the other, because they're like, no, they're nothing like each other. Yeah. She, Julie Beck. Oh, is that who it was? All right, nice job, Julie.

Good article. Pat on the back for you. Cold star. So here's the first one is, and this one, they both make a lot of sense to me. Basically, there's a dissonance between the parts of your body that sense motion. That's the easiest way to say it. It's called the sensory conflict theory. Yeah. Did you get your eyeballs? Yeah. It senses motion. It's weird if you think about your eyes doing that,

but that's one of the roles that they play in body. You see motion. It's weird if you think about your eyes doing that But that's one of the roles that they play a body motion, right sure I also have the vestibular system which is centered around your inner ear. Yep, and that definitely senses motion movement acceleration gravity, yeah, and then you have all the sensors the sensors and like your muscles and joints and stuff, right? Yeah, I didn't really think about that as being one, but for sure, like your body actually feels it. Yeah, well think about it. Like if you feel yourself kind of moving backward,

you're definitely sensing it through your inner ear, but you can also feel it in your feet as well and they're sending a bulletin to your brain saying, lean forward dummy, you're going to fall back. What's your problem, friend? Yeah. So this dissonance occurs when basically, like, let's say you're sitting in a movie theater, like an iMacs, and it's a scene where you're flying with Superman or something.

Like you're seeing this with your eyeballs, like a first person perspective shot of flight. But you're sitting in your seat, so your eyes are saying you're flying and your butts going, you're sitting here and your brain's like a witch. Yeah, pretty much. Witchcraft. So it creates motion sickness. That's when the nausea might kick in, dizziness, those cold sweats, salivation. I like how the author of the House of Works article

pointed out she specifically mentioned Avatar. Yeah. Who is the dude, the guy who's like the friend on the flight of the Concords? Mary? No. The other dude, the guy who worked in the pond. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh man, what is his name? It's not Arge. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, man. What is his name? It's not Arge Barker as a bar. Yes, it was I always want to call him Bosler and I know that's definitely not the same dude great comedian

Arge Barker, you mean I went and go see him. He did some stand-up, right? And he was talking about Avatar and he said when it first came up, we were like, oh Avatar Have you seen Avatar? Yeah, yeah great and then like everything you heard was have you seen Avatar? You got to see Avatar. It said like after a couple of weeks, you just be walking down the sidewalk, people would pull up alongside you in their car and roll down the window and go, Avatar!

And this is I think a great example of that. Well, it's interesting. I posted an article on Facebook not too long ago on the stuff you should know page about. This person wrote an article about Avatar and their argument was that it for such a huge movie, it had like zero cultural impact. Like it was big at the time, but does anyone care now?

Like it's not like the Star Wars world or Star Trek or all these things. And I totally agreed. I saw Avatar once and I was like done with it, typical James Cameron, schlock. I've seen it zero times. No sucks But dude, there are Avatar people though. I know that pile bottom. We're like, you just got no idea what he's talking about It's totally relevant. Oh, I'm sure they're gonna be all over our Facebook page after this episode comes out Hey truck forever now. I like some of James Cameron stuff, but if he wrote the script then it's I'm not gonna like it. No, I know what you mean. I think he's a hack writer. Yeah

Did I just say that to hundreds of thousands of people? Yeah, and I'm sure James Cameron cares what you think. He's at the bottom of the Marianne trend right now He's not listening to stuff. He's picking out my future burial site. So Chuck, we were talking about the sensory conflict theory, right? Yes. That's one big explanation. And it definitely kind of makes sense, right? Your brain just basically gets overloaded and is like,

oh, I need to sit down. I've got the vapors, right? Yeah. I'm doing a lot of bad impressions in this episode, as I'm supposed to be. Who is there supposed to be? Somebody fainting in the late 19th century. Oh, no, it's great. So it was your arch Barker a pop. That's what it was. It was a pop the dandy Fop mm-hmm. There's another competing idea and that is We kind of talked about

It's called Swae theory. Yeah, and there's a dude, Thomas Stoffergen or Stoffergen. I'm going with the gin. Was gin? Jih. Stoffergen, University of... It's Jih. University of Minnesota Professor of Kinesiology.

And listen to this, he's the director of its affordence perception action laboratory nerd he gets a motion sickness looking through microscope. So he proposes the sway theory which basically has nothing to do with the vestibular system he said he says that I don't I don't necessarily agree with that, but okay. Agree that he thinks that. No, I know that he thinks that. I don't agree with that, his take on that. Agree. I think it's still tied together.

But his theory is, and this first part is a theory, it's true, is that everyone sues, like, unless you're one of those people that stand, like, emotionless in the middle of New Orleans, for money. Mm-hmm, yeah. Or that's actually a liberty. Is that a silver or something like money. Yeah, or the statue of Liberty. Or the Scylver or something like that. Yeah, they're good at it.

But if you're just a regular dope like you and I, when we stand there, we're gonna be moving in a little bit. Yeah. You can be swaying a little bit. It's weird, like if you stop and like really pay attention to it, you notice it, but you'll never notice it unless you are focused on it. Yeah, you're always moving a little bit. Yeah, you notice it, but you'll never notice it unless you are focused on it. Yeah, you're always moving a little bit.

Yeah, swaying. If you're standing up, you're swaying for the most part. Yes, and the point he makes is if everyone truly relaxed every muscle in their body, they'd fall over. Right. So the whole point, the whole thing is swaying, it's the byproduct of us standing upright, which is not something we've been doing for all of the time we've been on Earth, because we evolved from things that walked on four legs, standing up kind of new.

Well, sure, and babies don't stand up. Right. They have to learn as well. Yeah, exactly. So, um, Stoffergen's whole idea is that motion sickness comes about when you have, when you're exposed to movement that contradicts the natural swaying that you've learned to do to stand upright. Right. And it undermines it and your brain goes, shh. Which makes sense in a way,

because let's say you're on a boat and the boat's tilting to the left. And so what your feet do, or they account for that and maybe you lean in on the inside of your foot and your toes flex. So you want to make yourself more upright again. And then the boat turns again in a direction you're not expecting,

you're correcting for that first move, the second move happens, and your body doesn't know what to do. So here's the thing, the sensory conflict one makes a little more sense to me than this one, because that sounds to me like if that were the case, if that's what's going on, it clearly is like when you get your sea legs or whatever, you're moving along, you're trying to stay standing under these weird conditions right? Why would that translate into something like dizziness or nausea or vomiting or cold sweats that doesn't make sense to me

sensory conflict I can see translating into it But even beyond that a lot of people are like no, that doesn't still it doesn't make sense why you would vomit and this one guy named Michael Treesman in 1977 came up with a pretty awesome explanation for why we should get nauseated when we get motion sick, right? Well, yeah, should we take a break and talk about that? Oh, Kentucky. Mary, welcome to the middle. Hello and thanks for having me. If you really want to know what's going on in this country heading into the 2024 election,

you have to get away from the extremes and listen to the middle. Hi, my name is Venkat. I'm calling you from Atlanta, Georgia. On the new podcast, The Middle with Jeremy Hobson, I'm live every week, taking your calls and focusing on Americans in the middle who are so important politically but are often ignored by the media. I did a lifetime democratic voter, however I was raised by moderate Republicans from Michigan. Creating space for a civil conversation about the most contentious issues we face, from climate change to artificial intelligence, from abortion rights to gun rights.

I consider myself to be conservative physically but politically independent. Listen to the Middle with Jeremy Hobson on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Mo'Raca, and I'm excited to announce season 4 of my podcast, Mo'Bitweries. I've got a whole new bunch of stories to share with you about the most fascinating people and things who are no longer with us. From famous figures who died on the very same day, to the things I wish would die, like buffets. People actually take little tastes along the way with their fingers. They do. Oh no, I'm so sorry. Do you need a minute? This is the only interview where I've needed a spit bucket. I'm so sorry. We'll tell you about the singer who helped define cool and the

sports world's very first superstar. To call Jim Thorpe the greatest athlete in American history is not a stretch because no athlete before since is done what he did. Listen to Mobituaries with MoRaka on the I Heart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts? Join former 90210 star Brian Austin Greene along with Dancing with the Stars fan favorite Sharna Burgess and Hollywood air-turned-life coach Randy Spelling as they navigate life, love, and the quest for happiness in the new podcast, Oldish. Have I finally found the secret to happiness and the key to a successful relationship?"

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All right, Josh Michael Treaseman, 1977 in the journal Science, what did he say? Oh, he said that we get nauseated from motion sickness because there are some toxins out there that can mess with our vestibular system, right? Yes. So, the body is tricked into thinking that it's possibly been exposed to some sort of toxin because the vestibular system is out of whack from motion sickness. So it gets nauseated and ultimately might vomit as a reflex to get rid of whatever toxin that thinks has been ingested.

It's basically a case of mistaken identity. I think it explains it perfectly. It makes sense to me. I could see it explains it perfectly. Yeah, it makes sense to me. I could see it a little bit. Yeah. I think what Stofferogen is saying is that you're used to regaining your balance. You spend your entire life learning this system. Right.

And that if it's thrown off, what he doesn't do is connect it, I believe you're right. He doesn't connect it in the end to like something that happens in your brain. Right, the why the physiological reaction. Yeah, agreed. Yeah. But he does have some pretty good evidence backing his idea of swathere up though. So again, women are more susceptible to motion sickness than men, right? Yes, that's what they say.

Well he says, aha, while, swi theory explains this. Kids are equally susceptible to both genders or equally susceptible to motion sickness before puberty. But then after puberty, the bodies change. And where women and men hold most of their weight is different, right? Women hold it mostly around their hips, men hold it more around their chest, and that means that the center of weight is different, right? Women hold it mostly around their hips, men hold it more around their chest,

and that means that the center of gravity is different, which means the amount that we sway is different, right? Yeah, I think, what, who does he say, sway is women's way farther, but slower. But slower. Men's way faster, but within a tighter area. Right.

And these are micro-sways. Yeah, I mean, I think that most people move no more than an inch to any given side. Yeah. And even then, you're like Barney on the Simpsons when he walked out for that bachelor auction. Yeah. Then there's also land sickness, which is interesting. Yeah. I didn't look too much into it, but I have heard of it, which is basically the concept that if you're a sailor, then you've gotten, or just somebody who's been on boats enough.

You don't have to be professional. You get your sea legs so well that you get land sickness. Yeah, when you get back, and you're on solid ground, you're like, I don't know what to do. Right. Because your brain's so used to things moving that it perceives that it's moving even though it's not. You wanna say the French name for it?

Malde-Barke-Mond. Close. Let me look. I wasn't even looking. That was out of the... You forgot the middle part. Well, then you say it. There's a QE in the middle So maybe mal de barcuman. I said mal de barcumon

Mel de barcumon barcumon Yeah, barbacumon. I love that when we do this stuff There's it's probably literally 50% people laughing and 50% people want to kill us Yeah, you know, yeah a lot of people want to kill us. Yeah. You know, a lot of people want to kill us. Second level that. This logo say never do. All right, so, um, should we go over some, uh,

some things that you can do to prevent it? Because I mean, that, that whole segment on what explains motion sickness kind of peedered out, but that's the state of science right now. Yeah, although they, I will say they they have looked at the 23 and me for the genetic side and have found some support for both claims. I think that they're together. I do too.

Like, I think if, yes, your swaying system is set up in a certain way, and why can't that be a component that, along with the vestibular system and your site and all that, is affected and creates motion sickness? I just don't understand why it has to be one or the other. That was the impression that I had he was trying to really get across, was that it's, no, it's his own thing. Yeah, yeah. I think that's weird. So, what do you, what do you go to if you get motion sick? Well, they say to keep your eyes on the horizon what do you what do you go to if you get motion sick? Well, they say to keep your eyes on the horizon whether you're in a car or a boat or whatever That'll help

cuts down on Motion right or the sensation of motion I'm not sure. I think so because think about it when you look at stuff that's close to the car It's blurring by it's gonna make to be fast. The horizon's staying constant. Look at you. Keep your head still so you can lay down if you're able to somewhere, or at least put your head back against the seat. Yeah.

Just sort of keep it as still as possible. Don't smoke. Sure. They say this is good advice all around. Exactly. If you're going to fly, they say to avoid big greasy meals and alcohol the night before, and eat light meals or snacks, low in calories,

the day of. But yeah, you do wanna have something in your stomach, though, because that's just gonna help. Empty stomach, no good. Right. Turn that air vent, whether you're in your car or a plane or a boat, you need want some fresh air blowing on your face ideally release recycled air

Felt this bed since that a need a bright constant Sit in the front of the airplane or over a wing supposedly Yeah, the rear of the airplane Can each other difference? Oh man really you just get whipped around back and forth it's way worse if you get motion sick You should never sit behind the wings of the airplane. See, I love the last car of a rollercoaster, though. Well, yeah, you're feeling it more. Yeah. You're enjoying it more. You don't get motion sick. What else? Avoid salty foods before you travel? There's also remedies, too, right? So the jury's out on whether ginger actually helps or not,

or if it's just a placebo effect. Ginger peppermint and black whorehound, apparently, or some of the herbs that may or may not work. Who knows? I can tell you firsthand, and I looked it up, sea bands, acupressure bracelets, that go on your wrist, three fingers widths down from the heel of your palm,

the paracardium six. So is the acupuncture point. I saw research that showed that neither placebo, nor the acupressure bands had any effect on motion sickness. I can tell you that even if it is just placebo, they still work. Oh yeah. First hand, they work. All right. Even if it's placebo placebo, they still work. Oh yeah. The first hand, they work.

All right. Even if it's placebo, I don't care. That's fine. I gotta say man. It keeps me from being motion sick. Yeah. It kept me an you me from being motion sick on an entire cruise. But would you have been motion sick without it?

Yeah, because we had, we didn't use it for one day and we felt immediately. Gotcha. Yeah. I brought one on my only cruise that I went to and I don't think I wore it because I didn't need to. We had like divots on our wrists because we just had to find like the whole time. Yeah, you should bring it in just in case.

Yeah, sure. We also had scopula mean. Yeah. And we didn't even use it because the sea bands worked so well. Drama mean, is that the same thing or the different? No. Scopula mean is that stuff that they drug people with and then, it's like, remember in our Truth Seer episode, we talked about Scopula mean. Oh yeah.

It's like a drug in South America where they'll dose you with it and then you end up just basically becoming zombified and don't remember anything. Yeah. It's the same stuff. But it doles the Messages from your inner ear to your brain. So your sensation of motion is decreased nice Homeopathy there haven't been a ton of studies about the effect effectiveness of specific remedies, but they do say things like borax, calculus,

petroleum do say things like borax, calculus, petroleum, seepia, tabacum, dude. So we're gonna hear from so many people just for having even uttered the word homeyopathy. Is that how you say it, homeyopathy? No, it goes both ways. Okay. Yeah, I know. I mean, nothing drives people more crazy than that.

I know. They're gonna go berserk, mark my words. Because it's not, you know, well, well, I said that it, that take it or leave it basically. Yeah. Some people swear by it. Yeah. I mean, some people think it's, uh, it, from what I have ever seen, it's like the biggest flashpoint, like of anything, of anything that skeptics talk about.

Nothing drives them crazier than homiopathy. Yeah, yeah. Like make some nuts. It's kind of funny to watch. It does because then you people say, you shouldn't even say Western versus Eastern medicine, you should say proven science versus witchcraft. Did people say that on Facebook? Yeah, they get really like, you't even say what's going on.

Don't even say it. I said you can't say it. Don't even say it, Josh. Um, what else? Yeah, I'm making fun of you. Mind body medicine, biofeedback training and relaxation. They did a study of 55 pilots who had to stop flying due to motion sickness, which by the way, I didn't know that, like that frightens me just knowing that.

That a pilot can get motion sickness. Yeah, but think about it for the pilot. It's like career ending. Oh, I'm sure. Yeah. 76% of them got over their motion sickness and were able to return to work after biofeedback training and relaxation programs. So basically they sit in that tilt-to-world, bring it on, and then biofeedback training and relaxation programs. So basically they sit in that tilt-to-world,

bring it on, and then biofeedback instruments record temperature, muscle tension, and they use relaxation techniques and mental imagery in the chair, and over time, it's sort of like cognitive behavioral therapy, which is another thing that they use, which is like, you know, get in the chair, and do it until it doesn't affect you any longer.

It's exposure therapy, right? Yeah. There's this guy named Sam Puma, who's a physician and aeronautics engineer, I think, maybe at the very least he's worked in the aerospace industry for a really long time. And he has come up with some habituation exercises where basically you kind of mildly expose your body to the

kind of movements it's going to expect on like a space shuttle or whatever ahead of your trip and you can he says you can be prepared and not have any motion sickness and it's a little is a week. Yeah. And I guess it checks out. Yeah, because it sounds like, you know, come on, what's this guy selling me? Right. But then the Atlantic author said, you know, no, apparently it's a real thing.

And then another good tip that I saw was, if you're in a car and you're not driving, pretend like you're driving. You might feel silly, but you know, pretend like you're driving, maybe even do your hands and anticipate the curves and things. Yeah, maybe give them a little horn, a little imaginary horn once an hour. Yeah, the reason why the best seat in a car is the driver is because you can anticipate the movements the car is going to make. Yeah. Which supports sway theory if you think about it.

True. Because you can counteract it. Do you ever have one of those passengers in your car that hits the fake brake? Because they're nervous. Sure. It's like a just an involuntary action. You see them stomp their foot on the floorboard. Right. It's pretty funny. I have one for any particular that does that. Oh yeah. Yeah. Let's see. I guess that's it, right? I got nothing else. If you want to learn more about motion sickness, you can type those words in the search bar at

howstuffworks.com. And since I said search bar, it's time for a listener mail. I'm going to call this bonsai tutu. Hey guys, I love the show. I'm a tutu maker. Who knew? You can get it. But you know, somebody makes them?

Sure. They don't just grow on trees. Anymore, I'm a tutu maker and work alone in my studio a lot, making tutus. You guys are my company and thank you for that. I also have a Bachelor of Science in ornamental horticulture. So listening to the bonsai episode reminded me of an experience ad with a bonsai master in a class I had in college

The professor recovered the art of bonsai leading up to this man's visit He covered the art meticulous decisions made in the shaping of the tree, etc The day came when the master was there to speak with us We came into class and all of his amazing work was displayed around the classroom It was really beautiful Everyone sort of spoke about it in hushedones, very reverent to each other. Finally, the master who was a rather tiny Japanese man was ready to demonstrate the technique for us. He unpauded the plant in front of him, spoke about the shape and what he felt would be the best way to train it. And after this, he pulled out a club,

the size of a baseball bat, and beat the crap out of the root ball, explaining the need to control the plant. And no one knew exactly how to react. I had not thought about that for a really long time and I listened to the show chuckling the whole time because I thought you might appreciate the story. That is from Nancy Gallagher, the tutu maker. Well thanks a lot, Nancy. Maybe he was just trying to get the dirt away from the roots, I don't know, or maybe it was a bad bonsai.

Mr. Miyagi would never do that. I worked with Pat Marita. Did I mention that on the show? No. Was it? He did a music video that I worked on. A karate kid spoof. Oh yeah. Alien ant farm. And I worked with him and he was super nice and it was just a couple years before he died. He's dead? Oh yeah. Uh-huh. That's his shame. Yeah, he liked the white wine.

Oh yeah, I think he told me a story before it sounds familiar. I had to go fetch him some shardin' eh, like noon. I was like, you know what? That was Pat Marita on the set of a music video. Sure, I'd be like, I'd have a PA fetch me some Chardonnay do. Mm-hmm. Yeah, remember he played Al, the replacement Al? Arnold.

On Happy Days? Arnold. Yeah. Al was the name of the actor. Yeah, right? He's from California. Pat Marita. What was I to do with it?

Nothing. Oh, that was an additional fact? Yeah, I just mean some people might see the karate kid, and I only know that and think he's from Japan. Nothing. Oh that was an additional fact. Yeah, it just means some people might see the karate kid and I only know that and think he's from Japan. Right, but he was putting on that accent. Oh yeah, yeah. He's a California dude. Totally. Yeah, like laid back kind of. Oh yeah, Shardinay guy. If you want to know more about Pat Marita or get in touch with us or whatever, you can send off for more info to syskpodcast on Twitter or on Instagram. You can join us on Facebook.com slash stuff you should know.

You can send us an email to stuffpodcast.house.forks.com and as always join us at our home on the web stuff you should know.com. Stuff you should know is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts, my heart radio, visit the I Heart Radio app. Apple podcasts are wherever you listen to your favorite shows. If you really want to know what's going on in this country heading into the 2024 election, you have to get away from the extremes and listen to the middle. Hi, Jan here in Kansas City, Missouri. On the podcast the middle with Jeremy

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