This is why you get car sick

You’d think the thought of going on a road trip would be exciting, but for some, it only brings up bad memories involving buckets or plastic bags.

Why is it that almost every time we go on a car journey, it’s spoiled by nausea and petrol station stops?

Well, finally the reason for car sickness has been revealed and it’s absolutely ridiculous.

Neuroscientist Dean Burnett told NPR’s Fresh Air that we can blame our “idiot brains” for thinking they’re being “poisoned.”

What on earth?

RELATED: Here's how to gauge your Alzheimer's risk
RELATED: New report says flossing is a 'waste of time'

We know right? Sounds downright insane if you ask us and Burnett agrees. “When you think about it, moving shouldn’t make us sick. We move around all the time.”

So what is it about motion in cars that triggers our brain into survival mode?

Sure, when we once roamed dense jungles with a chance of eating poisonous plants, our brain’s response to inducing sickness to rid any harmful substances from our bodies makes sense. But cars?

According to Burnett, although we’ve become accustomed to riding in cars and, our brains haven’t caught up with the strange notion of us moving but not moving at the same time.

“When we’re in a vehicle like a car or a train, or a ship especially, you’re not actually physically moving. Your body is still. You’re sat down. You’ve got no signals from the muscles saying we are moving right now — your muscles are saying we are stationary,” he said.

While our eyes, muscles and nerves are all still, the fluid in our ears are rocking about, which is what sends a message to our brains telling it that we’re in fact on the move.

Burnett said this sensory mismatch gives your brain mixed messages and the only thing our brains have evolved to connect this mismatch with is a neurotoxin or poison.

That’s why not even halfway into your road trip you feel like purging.

“We get motion sickness because the brain’s constantly worried about being poisoned.”

“As soon as the brain gets confused by anything like that, it says, ‘Oh, I don’t know what to do, so just be sick, just in case’,” he explained.

So don't read a book because focusing on a static page will only confuse your brain more. While looking out of the window gives your "idiot brain" proof it's moving and will sooth your motion sickness.

If you use to be sick in the car as a child but have grown out of it as an adult, that’s because motion sickness hits kids way worse due to their brains still forming.

And as for the rest of us, well, we’re still waiting for that day...

Want more celebrity, entertainment and lifestyle news? Follow Be on Facebook,Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.