If you have ever wondered about why you get so ridiculously sick during an unpleasant ride? Have you?, then read on. The exact cause of motion sickness has not been found out but scientists suggests that it has something to do with the confused messages received by our brains from both the eyes and ears. For instance if you are in an airplane and seated near the window, your eyes sees the movement but your inner ear does not sense anything. And snap! There starts a conflict between our sense which eventually leads us getting sick.
Ever imagined a way to get over this trauma? Well high time you did that. Researchers have come up with an app that could probably be a solution to all this agony. This smartphone app applies a small electronic current to the scalp through a headset which is said to alleviate the sickness. This current is believed to dampen the responses in an area of the brain that is held responsible for processing the motion signals. This in turn reduces the brain from receiving confusing signals
All credits to the researchers from the Imperial College of London who claims that within five to ten years this will become a reality and potential customers can make use of this intervention.
“We hope it might even integrate with a mobile phone, which would be able to deliver the small amount of electricity required via the headphone jack. In either case, you would temporarily attach small electrodes to your scalp before traveling on a cross channel ferry, for example,” said Arshad, the chief researcher of this project.
The study involved volunteers wearing electrodes on their heads for ten minutes and then were asked to be seated on a motorized rotating chair that involved various tilts and twists as well to induce in the feeling of sickness on them just like how it is on roller-coasters and boats. After the ride it was found out that they were less likely to feel nauseous and even recovered quickly from that sick feeling.
“The problem with treatments for motion sickness is that the effective ones are usually tablets that also make people drowsy,” said Professor Michael Gresty from Imperial College who collaborated in this study and is a world expert on motion sickness. The findings of the study was later published in the journal Neurology.
You may feel sick from the motion of cars, airplanes, trains, amusement park rides, or boats or ships. You could also get sick from video games, flight simulators, or looking through a microscope. In these cases a possible solution is on its way. Stay calm!
