“If I sit as a passenger, no matter where, I feel dizzy and vomit everything I’ve eaten or drunk. But when I drive myself, I can go all day without dizziness.

I tried this precaution: I read about ballet dancers who can spin many times without dizziness, but once they extend their hands, look at their thumbs, and turn, they become dizzy and fall.

So, when I sit, I request the front seat and look forward as if I am driving. I never look sideways, backward, at maps, or search in the glove box. Then I don’t feel dizzy anymore. If I must sit in the back, I look forward at a distant point or through the windshield.”

Medical Evidence

• Cause of Motion Sickness Motion sickness occurs when the eyes perceive motion differently from the inner ear. For example, reading a book in a moving car makes the eyes think you are still, while the inner ear senses motion. This mismatch causes nausea, dizziness, sweating, and vomiting .
• Passenger vs Driver Effect Drivers rarely get motion sickness because they control the vehicle and focus forward, aligning visual and vestibular input. Passengers, however, often look sideways or down, increasing sensory conflict .
• Ballet Dancers & Spotting Dancers avoid dizziness by using spotting: fixing their gaze on a point and snapping their head quickly to re-anchor vision. This reduces overstimulation of the inner ear fluid. Without spotting, dizziness occurs after spins .

Practical Precautions

• Sit forward-facing: Front passenger seat is best; if in the back, look through the windshield.
• Fix gaze on horizon: Avoid reading, phone use, or looking sideways.
• Ventilation: Cool air reduces nausea.
• Dietary tips: Eat light, avoid alcohol, consider ginger or peppermint.
• Medications: Antihistamines (e.g., dimenhydrinate) or scopolamine patches may help, but consult a doctor before use.

References

• Cleveland Clinic: Motion Sickness Overview (2024)
• Wikipedia: Motion Sickness Causes & Passenger Effect
• WebMD: Symptoms & Prevention (2024)
• Dance Physiology & ScienceDirect: Spotting Technique in Ballet (2024–2025)

Answer to the post U Toe Wai Aung as a comment …

ဘေးကထိုင်လိုက်ရင် ဘယ်နေရာကထိုင်ထိုင် မူးတာ မူးတာ စားထား၊သောက်ထားသမျှ အန်ထွက်၊ ဟော ကိုယ်တိုင် မောင်းရင်ကျလည်း တစ်နေကုန်မောင်း မမူးပြန်ဘူးဗျာ…Try this precaution. Although I am a Medical Doctor, I don’t know the answer at first. When I read about the Ballet dancers who could turn their bodies numerous times but ONCE they extend their hands, put thr thumbs up, and look at the thumbs and turn, they became dizzy and fell down. So IF I sit, I requested to be seated at front seat, and look at the front as if I am driving. Never look around, side back or look at the address, map, or phone number nor search in the glove box or interior of car. Then No more giddy. IF you have to sit at the back, look forward at far place or through wind shield.