Brain "Zapping" Treats Travel Sickness

Symptoms of travel sickness may be eliminated by using electricity to stimulate parts of the brain, says study.

12:40 08 September 2015

A team of researchers from Imperial College London said that brain zapping using electricity could treat travel sickness. Early trials showed that the method could have a similar effect to drugs, sans the drowsiness. It works by interfering the messages coming from the part of the ear that controls balance.

 

However, scientists urged “healthy skepticism” until larger trials backed up the findings.

 

Dr Qadeer Arshad, from the movement and balance group at Imperial, said people no long had motion sickness if their inner ear was damaged. The team used “transcranial direct current stimulation” to manipulate that part of the brain that interprets message coming from those balance organs in the ear while people were made to feel nauseous.

Dr Arshad said: "The best comparison is with the best known drug scopolamine - we showed in essence that it's equivalent to scopolamine, but that drug knocks you out, it puts you to sleep."

 

"Within the next couple of years people will be able to use these devices - it's not far away," he said.

 

"You can envisage on a cross-Channel ferry, having a small area where if you feel sick this could be applied by a trained person."

 

Prof Chris Chambers, the head of brain stimulation at Cardiff University, commented: "It would be irresponsible to conclude that this study provides anything more than very early evidence of a potential benefit.

 

"Until the findings are replicated in a large registered trial, I recommend that the public approach any claims about treatment benefits with a healthy scepticism."