Experts have confirmed that playing video games and using smartphones and tablets could pave the way for people to experience what is known as cybersickness. Researchers said that up to 80 percent of the population show symptoms of the condition. 

In a new study, researchers found that exposure to digital devices initiates variations in the movement of the head and torso between participants who subsequently suffer from motion sickness and those who do not. Such finding confirms the postural instability of motion sickness.

What is Cybersickness?

Medical and media personnel describe cybersickness as a feeling of being "woozy," comparable to that of standing on a boat afloat a convulsing sea. This sensation is acquired after viewing moving digital content while the rest of the body remains still.

Cybersickness is similar to motion sickness and typically occurs during or after immersion in a virtual environment.

Cyriel Diels from Coventry University's Centre for Mobility and Transport, England explained that cybersickness is a basic dilemma that sort of been swept under the rug in the technology sector. "It's a natural response to an unnatural environment," he said.

Bodily conflicts

People develop cybersickness due to bodily conflicts that occur in three sensory systems namely visual (eyes), vestibular (ears) and proprioceptive (motion) systems. When conflicts, no matter how insignificant, appear between what is perceived by the eyes and ears, and the rest of the body stays motionless, cybersickness occurs.

Causes

Cybersickness can be caused by a variety of factors. One is staying in a moving vehicle for far too long that postural instability becomes extended as well. Nowadays, the most popular cause of cybersickness is immersion to virtual reality, or exposure to digital devices like smartphones, tablets and video games that likely mixes up what one see, hear and do.

Signs and symptoms

The clinical manifestations of cybersickness can be classified into three groups associated with sensory conflicts and exposure to virtual reality. The first one refers to visual symptoms such as blurred vision, eye strains and headaches. The second category is disorientation, characterized by imbalance and vertigo. The third class is nausea, which is manifested via dizziness and vomiting.

Visual signs are most commonly linked with the use of a virtual helmet device and closeness of the eyes to the screen. Disorientation and nausea symptoms are temporary and are comparable to reading in a moving vehicle. These are also said to be consequences of a sensory conflict.

Photo: Matt Cornock | Flickr