Sunglasses to prevent travel sickness?

 

London: A UK farmer claims to have developed a pair of sunglasses that reduce the wearer's perception of movement to prevent travel sickness. 

 

Tim Flaxman, 53, of Burgh Castle, near Great Yarmouth, has designed the sunglasses in which one eyepiece is so opaque that it lets in light but the wearer cannot see movement through it. 

 

The glasses, called TravelShades, are perfectly symmetrical, so that the wearer can change the eye that is blocked simply by turning the glasses upside down, 'The Sunday Times' reported. 

 

Motion sickness is caused by an imbalance between what the body is experiencing and the visual signals sent to the brain. 

 

The part of the brain that controls vomiting, the area postrema, reacts when the signals suggest a conflict and prompts nausea and sickness. 

 

The glasses stop the conflicting signals by closing down one source, cutting vision from 3D to 2D and thus reducing the perception of movement. 

 

Flaxman, who runs a livery farm, has spent 10 years and up to 85,000 pounds developing the glasses. He is now working with a British company, and Lloyds Pharmacy has shown interest in stocking the glasses.