Anyone who has ever sat in the back of a car or bus probably understands the motion sickness ― nausea, headache and dizziness ― that can come from reading a book or staring at a screen while in a moving vehicle. Research says it’s quite common, with 59% of people reporting experiencing the phenomena either in adulthood or childhood.
If anything, the advent of smartphones makes motion sickness even more common. Who hasn’t checked emails and social media as they ride in the passenger seat?
Motion sickness stems from our balance system, which is “made up of a few different parts, including your vision … your inner ear, as well as balance sensors in all of your muscles throughout your body,” said Dr. Mohamed Elrakhawy, an assistant professor in the department of otorhinolaryngology, head and neck surgery at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
“And all that information has to come together, and the brain has to integrate it to make sense of it so that you have a good sense of where you are in space and if you’re moving, what direction you’re moving,” he added.
When motion sickness happens, the theory is there’s a disconnect between what your eyes are seeing and what your inner ears are feeling, Elrakhawy noted. In other words, there’s confusion among these senses.
“Some people feel that they’re moving while their eyes are telling them they’re not moving, or their eyes can be telling them that they should be moving, but their inner ear says, no, you’re not moving,” Elrakhawy continued.
For those who deal with motion sickness while using their Apple devices in a car, the company implemented a motion sickness fix via its iOS 18 release last year. On both iPhones and iPads, Apple added animated dots to the periphery of the screen that move along with the car’s movement to reduce the eye-ear discrepancy that can lead to motion sickness.
Elrakhawy explained that these dots mimic the movement the driver sees as they’re driving the car. (And drivers, generally, don’t get car sick.)
“When you’re in the driver’s seat, you’re in control and you can anticipate which way you’re going to be moving, and therefore, the brain has good signals of what’s going on,” Elrakhawy said. “I think the idea with [the dots] is that if the iPhone that you’re holding is detecting the motion of the car, it will give your eyes a clue with these dots.”
These dots sync what your body is feeling with what your body is seeing so you don’t have the mismatch in sensory signals that causes motion sickness, he explained.
It goes without saying that folks driving a vehicle shouldn’t be looking at their phone, so this motion sickness feature is meant for people who are passengers.
Here’s how to use the motion sickness feature on your iPhone or iPad:
On your iPhone or iPad, the setting is technically called vehicle motion cues.
It can be reached by following these steps: Go to Settings > Accessibility > Motion.
Click on “Show vehicle motion cues” and choose from three settings: “Off,” “Automatic” (which will turn the feature on whenever your device detects that you’re in a car) or “On” (which will keep the dots on your screen at all times).
What else can you do for motion sickness?
As with anything health-related, your motion sickness is going to be different than your neighbor’s. Some folks online say the Apple feature worked for them, while others said it made their motion sickness worse.
You can give the feature a try and see how it goes for you. And if it doesn’t work, there are additional ways to get rid of the ensuing motion sickness.
“If you can look out on the horizon, say you are looking out of the window, just looking up and actually focusing on one thing as you’re traveling might be helpful to stabilize your gaze and reconcile the difference of what’s happening on the outside versus what you’re feeling,” Elrakhawy suggested.
It’s also helpful to keep your head still for a little bit, he said. Or, you can try over-the-counter antihistamine like Dramamine, which is designed to keep motion sickness at bay.
You can also talk to your doctor about prescription patches if you find that your motion sickness is really getting in the way of your day-to-day life, he added.
Motion sickness is a common condition that has been around for a long time, according to Elrakhawy. Hopefully, this hack can help you feel better as you catch up on emails or shows on your device, but if it doesn’t, there are other options out there.