Everyone wants a cure . . . unless the remedy is worse than the disease. And that might be the case for MOTION SICKNESS.
A new study found that music can help alleviate motion sickness, which seems like GREAT news. But you can’t just listen to ANYTHING.
The best music to relieve car sickness symptoms is “gentle music and cheerful music,” which could include stuff like classical music . . . soft rock . . . the playlist they have in coffee shops . . . and whatever Enya is.
And “joyful” pop music includes: “Happy” by Pharrell . . . “Can’t Stop the Feeling” by Justin Timberlake . . . “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift . . . and stuff like “Hakuna Matata” from the “Lion King” soundtrack.
The idea is that motion sickness often causes negative emotions and tension, which triggers symptoms like dizziness and nausea. Music can calm “negative triggers,” which can relieve the effects of car sickness for some people.
The study notes that “sad” and “agitated” music could “exacerbate” discomfort and motion sickness.
The problem is: What if “cheerful” music . . . like the stuff a kid INSISTS on listening to every time they’re in the car . . . LITERALLY drives you crazy?
It’s unclear if the study accounted for different musical tastes . . . or if they just used the typical responses from the people who participated in the experiments.
For example, a hard rock fan may get a happy feeling while listening to loud, “agitated” rock or metal . . . while having a very negative response to, say, yacht rock, the Beach Boys, or a Disney soundtrack.
(If that IS the kind of music you need to listen to, then this may be a case where the FIX is worse than the problem itself.)
