I’ve been a movement illness girlie for so long as I can keep in mind. Household highway journeys, bus rides, ferries, bumpy flights, taxis, and high-speed trains have all accomplished me soiled. I do know all of the methods within the guide: sit dealing with ahead, entrance of the automobile however again of the boat, eyes on the horizon, and don’t dare learn a guide or have a look at your cellphone.

That final one is simpler stated than accomplished, although. Like most individuals who cope with automobile illness (which impacts practically 50 % of adults!)‚ I’ve needed to settle for that counting on my cellphone for leisure on the highway simply isn’t an possibility. However typically a bit of display time is important, like after I have to lookup lodge data, navigate for the motive force, or curate the proper playlist. And feeling nauseous from a couple of minutes of passenger princess cellphone duties straight-up sucks. (True story: In lots of automobile illness research, researchers actually use a “distress scale” score system.)

So when Apple introduced they had been together with an anti-motion illness function in iOS 18 (launched on September 16) known as Automobile Movement Cues, I used to be psyched to attempt it out. Once you focus your eyes on one thing like a cellphone or guide whereas in a transferring automobile, it tends to make movement illness worse. The brand new function—achieved by way of transferring dots that slide across the peripherals of your display—goals to assist cut back this nauseating impact whenever you’re utilizing an iPhone or iPad.

If, like me, you’ve lengthy given up on studying, scrolling TikTok, and even texting folks again whereas within the rear seat of a cab, Automobile Movement Cues sounds fairly attractive—but additionally, too good to be true. Right here’s what science has to say, plus my private expertise making an attempt it out, for higher or worse.

Why does movement illness occur within the first place?

The quick reply: Consultants aren’t fully positive. “There are totally different theories, and there is not one that each one researchers agree on,” Behrang Keshavarz, PhD, a senior scientist finding out human notion, digital actuality, and movement illness at The KITE Analysis Institute, tells SELF. “Essentially the most outstanding principle known as sensory battle or sensory mismatch.”

The concept is that, beneath regular circumstances, your physique has a good suggestion of the place you’re positioned in house because of sensory info coming from sources like your imaginative and prescient, vestibular system (which gauges stability), and proprioceptive system (which handles physique consciousness). Often, all this sensory data matches up. However whenever you’re in a automobile or different transferring automobile, there’s an surprising discrepancy between what you see and what you are feeling—and consultants assume that’s the basis reason behind getting movement sick, Dr. Keshavarz says.

This impact is much more pronounced whenever you focus your eyes on one thing fastened contained in the automobile, like your cellphone or a guide. “Your vestibular sense and muscle tissue can sense the acceleration, the turning, and all that, however should you’re specializing in a guide, your eyes do not. They’re telling you that you just’re secure as a result of they do not see the motion,” Dr. Keshavarz explains.