Listening to sad playlist during car ride again? Study shows it can worsen your motion sickness

Severity of motion sickness depends on your car playlist. Which type of music you listen to can either improve or worsen the symptoms.

Car rides and music go hand in hand, whether blasting from the speakers with everyone singing along or during intimate listening on earphones. But motion sickness is a buzzkill, causing dizziness, vomiting, fatigue, sweating, and general uneasiness. It can turn what should be an enjoyable road trip into a very uncomfortable experience.

But did you know that the type of music you play in your car can influence your motion sickness, making it better or worse?

A study published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience on September 3, 2025, confirmed this. The genre of the music can determine how severe your motion sickness feels.

Which music you choose matters

The researchers aimed to find out if music can influence how nauseous you feel in a car and whether any particular type of music matters. It turns out that sad music worsens motion sickness, while joyful tunes and gentle, soft music actually reduce symptoms like nausea and dizziness by over half.

Based on the findings, the researchers revealed that motion sickness symptoms go down by 56.7 per cent with soft tunes, while joyful music leads to a 57.3 per cent reduction. Stirring music performed moderately well, with a 48.3 per cent reduction. In other words, by half entirely.

Where does sad music fit in this context, and how does it worsen symptoms exactly? Again, let’s take a look at the numbers identified by the researchers. Motion sickness stops when the motion stops, i.e., when the car stops, with a natural recovery rate of 43.3 per cent. But the symptoms actually last longer because sad music lowers the recovery rate to 40 per cent. This means if you don't listen to any music, the body by itself recovers on its own, much faster than if you were listening to sad songs.

Why do you feel better with joyful tunes?

Happy tunes help to calm your brain down and react differently to motion sickness. (Freepik)

Most of the time, music choice is a personal preference. On days when you are feeling cranky, you might belt out metal or punk rock. Likewise, if you feel particularly sad, you are more likely to choose melancholic tunes, as songs often mirror emotions. But this approach is not ideal for car rides, especially if you are prone to motion sickness.

According to the researchers, the occipital lobe slows down when people feel sick, but happy tunes help return it to normal activity. In this way, music can also change how your brain reacts to motion sickness.

Note to readers: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.