If sailing makes you queasy, you're not alone. Motion sickness, whether on boats or in planes, cars or amusement rides, can strike anyone.

Take world-class sailor Gary Jobson, who has won five America's Cup championships. Though you wouldn't expect it of such an experienced water-dweller, Jobson used to get green at the gills whenever he left shore.

"I'd get overheated, then queasy, then [I'd] throw up." By the age of 18, Jobson knew he wanted to be a racer, but was getting nauseated all the time. "I like racing, so the only question was how to overcome it," he says. Through trial and error, Jobson figured out what worked for him, including regular use of a motion-sickness medication.

Those who have suffered from motion sickness know that it isn't limited to sailors. You can get just as queasy driving to Grandma's house or flying to Florida for the winter. The symptoms might start with yawning and a dizzy sensation, but can progress to feeling terrible with a combination of headache, nausea and vomiting.

So what causes this wretched retching condition?

Motion sickness occurs because the brain is trying to resolve two conflicting sensory inputs, one in the visual system and the other in the inner ear's balance system.

When you're sailing, for instance, your eyes and your inner ear are each interpreting the motion differently. Your eyes interpret the up-and-down movement of the waves, while the vestibular system of the inner ear interprets side-to-side movement.

Remedies range from prescription and over-the-counter medications to unproven choices such as ginger capsules.

For many people, the first step on the way toward prevention of motion sickness is the use of a medication, such as dimenhydrinate (Dramamine and Marmine), meclizine (Antivert), cyclizine (Marezine) and diphenhydramine (Benadryl).

Jobson says he never found relief until he started wearing a prescription transdermal patch behind his ear. The small adhesive patch releases scopolamine, a drug that acts on the nerves of the inner ear to keep all those external sensations from affecting your sense of balance. This treatment lasts three days, but you can't apply it when you are already sick. By then it is too late. Ideally, the patch is applied six to eight hours in advance.

Consult with your physician to determine whether medication may be helpful for you. And be sure to ask the doctor or pharmacist what is safe for babies and older children.

One non-medical method that can help avert or decrease motion sickness is to fix your eyes above the horizon on a distant object, but not track it or watch it move. This will lessen the discrepancy between what your visual and balance systems are experiencing.

Here are some other tips:

All of these measures minimize the conflict between the sensation in your inner ear, which says you are upright, and the tilting horizon outside the window.