Seasickness more likely? Men? Women?

[Delancey]

I don't see any reason why one sex would be more likely than the other but is it possible?

[weavis]

Originally Posted by Delancey

I don't see any reason why one sex would be more likely than the other but is it possible?

Women, in my experience seem to more prone to motion sickness overall.

[Panope]

My experience with about 5000 hours of flying passengers for hire in small (single, propeller) aircraft says that men are more likely to become airsick.

I do not recall a child ever becoming airsick (don't ask about a particular teenage boy and a cheeseburger).

Steve

[GordMay]

Robert M Stern, PhD, distinguished professor of psychology at Penn State University, has studied motion sickness for the past 15 years. Stern says that in his research, he found Asians are much more susceptible to motion sickness than whites or blacks. "That suggests there are genetic factors at work," he says.
➥ Asian hypersusceptibility to motion sickness. - PubMed - NCBI

According to the CDC:
All people can develop motion sickness if given sufficient stimulus. However, people may vary in their susceptibility. Risk factors include:

Age—children aged 2–12 years are especially susceptible, but infants and toddlers are generally immune.
Sex—women are more likely to have motion sickness, especially when pregnant, menstruating, or on hormones.
Migraines—people who get migraine headaches are more prone to motion sickness, especially during a migraine.
Medication—some prescriptions can worsen the nausea of motion sickness
➥ Motion Sickness - Chapter 2 - 2014 Yellow Book | Travelers' Health | CDC

[zeehag]

when my boat sails, it is the males who are seasick. i have experienced mor emale seasickness than female.
i believe and witnessed fear as a control in seasickness-- less fear, less sick. more fear-- more sick. fear is not obvious, nor does this fear manifest as fear per se.
i knew and sailed with a set of identical twins, male--one wasntseasick, one was. we did the identical twin beer and jalapeno tuna test..joel ate and drank, kim did not. kim puked , joel did not........

btw--seasickness also manifests as sleepiness. if you become very sleepy soon after getting underway, yes, you are seasick. (unless you pulled an all nighter night before leaving)

[David M]

In my experience having had at least a thousand people onboard the research vessel over a period of over 25 years and having had roughly an equal ratio of men to women onboard (there are more women estuarine scientists than men), that women tend to get seasick more commonly. It is not a huge difference though. It is maybe a 60/40 ratio.

My theory as to why is it is not the sex but womens tendency to go inside and to not look at the horizon. When sick, men are more inclined to stay outside and to focus on the horizon. I have seen this many many times.

I tell people during the safety talk before each cruise to get outside if they start feeling queasy but some still choose to ignore me.

[Panope]

Originally Posted by David M

...........womens tendency to go inside and to not look at the horizon.........

This at least partially explains why I see (in planes) the opposite trend (men being more like to become sick) as people in a small plane are forced to stay in the same position.

The back seat of small aircraft is definitely a worse place to be for motion sickness. The view of the horizon is limited and the back seat is usually somewhat behind the center of gravity and people seated there experience greater and perhaps more unpredictable motions.

I agree with Zeehag that fear or anxiety increases motion sickness.

Steve

[weavis]

I based my comments on some recent information we are recovering from patients notes going back 25 years.
Vertigo and motion sickness is more inclined towards the female. Traveling in buses, cars and planes and boats.

But then Ive puked for England when gastrically challenged on the boat...

[JPA Cate]

When I first looked at the question, my hypothesis was that women who use "the pill" for birth control and those using HRT later on, are much more likely to suffer seasickness, which is what GordMay posted, with sources. Good one, Gordie.

So then, the question becomes whether it is the side effects of the hormones that causes the seasickness, or is it something else to do with being female?

Ann

[weavis]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

When I first looked at the question, my hypothesis was that women who use "the pill" for birth control and those using HRT later on, are much more likely to suffer seasickness, which is what GordMay posted, with sources. Good one, Gordie.

So then, the question becomes whether it is the side effects of the hormones that causes the seasickness, or is it something else to do with being female?

Ann

The short answer is: I dont know.
The long answer is, " I really dont know".

Whilst the results in my clinic at least, show a % lead over men, Im very aware it affects both sexes. So for me Its not a clear cut "fact" to be declaring. It just seems women lead the chase by a slight margin.

[s/v Beth]

Why not just a simple hydration answer. Women, during some parts of the month, have less blood volume. We know that relative dehydration contributes to sea sickness. What if it is just lower volume in the blood that stimulates the cochlear centers differently?
The experiment would be- force hydrate a group of female sea going sailors and leave others just to drink ad lib. Then take the ones from the second group that get sea sick and force fluid on them before going out.
Might be fun. And by force fluids I mean a clinical term encouraging lots of oral (fluid) intake. I don't want to you think I am some kind of sick puppy....

[carstenb]

I don't know about on boats - but motion sickness in cars , in my experience is almost exclusively female.

Many of our female friends experience motion sickness when riding in cars - many of them cannot ride in the back seat for any longish period of time.

While I've had quite a few women claim motion sickness while riding with me (no I am not a bad driver, nor do I drive like I'm in the Indy 500), I've never had a man say it.

The few times we have had motion sick persons on our boat - they have been exclusively female.

Not enough of a population sample to give any meaningful results I'm afraid.

[weavis]

I dont have enough data to formulate or postulate a theory for why it happens. It may be hormonal, it may be any one of several dozen reasons.

I did go on one trip in Florida, short sharp sea, constantly changing direction where everyone including me puked........ the women started first......

[weavis]

LOLOL

I just phoned a colleague and asked him if he knew why women were prone to sickness more than men.

He was rushing to surgery. He said.

"Design fault"

He is not sexist, just extremely witty.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by s/v Beth

Why not just a simple hydration answer. Women, during some parts of the month, have less blood volume. We know that relative dehydration contributes to sea sickness. What if it is just lower volume in the blood that stimulates the cochlear centers differently?
The experiment would be- force hydrate a group of female sea going sailors and leave others just to drink ad lib. Then take the ones from the second group that get sea sick and force fluid on them before going out.
Might be fun. And by force fluids I mean a clinical term encouraging lots of oral (fluid) intake. I don't want to you think I am some kind of sick puppy....

That's worth trying. I'm doing a delivery POM-CNS in a weeks time and I generally have a touch of the queasies for the first 24 hours or so off shore. I will make an effort to hydrate and see how it goes.