Okay, so, “gray zone nausea.” Sounds fun, right? Let me tell you, it wasn’t. I decided to try and figure this out, because, well, I get motion sickness pretty easily, especially when I’m reading or using my phone in the car. I heard that there’s this ‘gray zone’ thing that can make it worse, and wanted to see if messing with it could help.
First, I started digging around, like doing some quick web searches. I found some stuff mentioning eye movements and how your brain gets confused when what you see doesn’t match what your body feels. Like, you are reading, eyes are focus, but the body is experiencing bumps and movement. Makes sense I thougt.
My Experiment Setup
I decided to try a little experiment on myself. My usual test subject(me again). I planned a car ride – not too long, just about an hour – where I could try some things out. My tools were simple:
- My phone: To read articles and play some games.
- A book: For old-school reading.
- A notepad: To jot down how I was feeling.
- A gray card:Actually I just printed a gray square on a piece of normal white paper.
The Actual Ride and What I Did
I started the car ride without looking at anything, just staring straight ahead. I wanted a baseline, you know? After about 15 minutes, I felt fine. No nausea, all good.
Then, I started reading a book. Within 10 minutes, that familiar icky feeling started creeping in. My stomach felt a little queasy, and I started feeling a bit warm. I rated my nausea like a 3 out of 10, it’s getting to me.
I put the book down and stared at that gray card I printed out. It was kind of boring, just a gray square, but I focused on it for a good 5 minutes. I tried to keep my eyes steady and not let them dart around.
And guess what, It actually seemed to help a little! The queasiness started to fade. Maybe down to a 1 or 2.
Next, I switched to my phone. I read some news articles, scrolled through social media. The nausea came back, and it came back fast. This time, it felt worse, maybe a 4 or 5. My head was starting to feel a bit swimmy, too.
Again, I went back to the gray card. Stared at it, focused, tried to relax my eyes. And again, it seemed to do the trick, at least a little bit. The nausea subsided after a few minutes.
What I Think Happened
So, from my super scientific car ride experiment, here’s what I figured out:
- Looking at things up close (book, phone) definitely made the nausea worse. No surprise there.
- The gray card actually seemed to help.
I’m guessing it’s because it gave my eyes a simple, stable point to focus on, so my brain wasn’t getting so many mixed signals.
- Doing this regularly might work.I’m going to keep a gray card in the car and try this every time I start feeling car sick.
I’m not saying I’m a doctor or anything, and this was just me messing around, but it definitely seemed like the “gray zone” focusing thing had some effect. It’s like giving your eyes a little break, a chance to reset.
Anyway, it’s worth a shot, right? If you’re prone to motion sickness, maybe print out a gray square and give it a try.
