What causes motion sickness in children?

More and more people like to travel with their families, but if the children in the family are carsick, the interest in traveling will be greatly reduced. When children are carsick, older ones will complain of discomfort, curl up quietly with their eyes closed, holding the seat tightly with both hands, and show signs of nausea, vomiting, and irritability. Infants and young children cannot speak, they can only express themselves through some abnormal actions. For example, sweating, vomiting, pale complexion, clinging to parents' hands tightly, etc., it could be motion sickness. Here we will introduce to you the reasons why children get motion sickness.

Internal factors

1. Constitution: Some people are born with a low threshold for stimulation of the balance system. Therefore, when there is a slight disharmony between vision and vestibular sense, they are easily stimulated and feel dizzy. Of course, this part also needs to consider whether there are other influencing factors in the objective environment.

2. Physical condition: When taking public transportation, if you happen to suffer from an upper respiratory tract infection, because viral infections often have the opportunity to invade the inner ear, namely the vestibular balance system, you may be more prone to motion sickness than usual. Before that, if you eat too much or take in difficult-to-digest foods, such as carbonated drinks, milk, etc., which cause stomach bloating, then as long as the parasympathetic nerves are slightly stimulated, it will lead to the secretion of gastric acid, which is more likely to cause vomiting. In addition, lack of sleep, anxiety, nervousness, poor gastrointestinal conditions, and headaches are all influencing factors.

3. Genetics: If parents or family history have severe cases of motion sickness, the child is more likely to suffer from motion sickness.

4. Self-suggestion: Children who often suffer from motion sickness are also more likely to fall into self-suggestion and suffer from motion sickness again.

External factors

1. Riding stability: The bumpy road surface causes the car to shake violently. Similarly, the stability of ships and airplanes must also be considered.

2. Smell: There is a special smell or gasoline smell in the air.

3. Seat: Due to the seating position, or if you are always looking at the moving scenery outside the window or reading a book, the visual and vestibular information input into the brain will be inconsistent.

The above description is the reason why children get motion sickness. I hope it will be helpful to everyone. I also want to tell you that motion sickness is medically called "motion sickness". Babies under 2 years old rarely get carsick, while babies between 3 and 12 years old are most likely to get carsick. Motion sickness is closely related to the excitability of the vestibular organ in the ear that has balance function. Therefore, motion sickness in children can be prevented.