Why do I get motion sickness in the back seat?

Motion sickness is a disagreement between your balance organs and your eyes. Your inner ear feels every turn, brake, and bump and tells your brain you are moving; your eyes, fixed on the seat back or a phone, report that everything is still. The brain receives two contradictory reports and responds with the classic sequence - nausea, cold sweating, going pale, headache, and sometimes vomiting. The back seat is the worst seat for this precisely because of vision: you cannot see the road ahead, so your eyes have no moving reference to agree with your ears. That is why the NHS's first fixes are positional: sit in the front of a car, look straight ahead at a fixed point like the horizon, and get fresh air through an open window. Reading and phones are the classic trigger - eyes down on a fixed screen maximises the mismatch. The practical kit for your next trip: claim the front seat or a window with a forward view, watch the distant road rather than the passing verge, keep the car cool and airy, eat lightly beforehand rather than travelling hungry or stuffed, and break up long journeys, as the NHS suggests. Pharmacy options exist for regular sufferers - tablets and patches that work best taken before travel - and ginger helps some people. Children outgrow it often; adults usually just out-plan it. Motion sickness is miserable but harmless - the see-a-GP version is nausea and dizziness that continues when the car has long stopped. Pymander is a free AI doctor, 24/7 by text, that can help you plan your next trip.