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 Ears


As you know, everytime you stand up, you must balance yourself. Even when you walk, jump, or move around you are always balancing yourself. But do you know just how your body knows when it is not balanced?

If you have ever looked at water in a bowl, you will notice that the top of the water is always level. You can pick the bowl up and tilt it a little, but the surface of the water will always be level with the ground. If you ever try to balance a ruler on your finger, in order to make it balance, you must make it level with the ground, just like water.

 Your body uses the same idea to check and see if it is balanced.
In the inner ear are "semi-circle canals." They are the small tubes shaped in half circles in the inner ear. They are filled with liquid and lined with hairs. When you tilt your head or body, the liquid in those tubes, just like water, levels out. The tiny hairs sense how much the liquid moves and tell your brain. The brain can then figure out how much to adjust to become balanced again.

But these tubes can cause some problems too. Have you ever been sea-sick, car-sick, or sick on an airplane? This is called motion sickness. When your body moves around a lot, the semi-circle canals are constantly sending different messages to the brain, and the brain begins to get confused. You can become dizzy, and sometimes feel a little sick. Luckily, there are medicines that can help make you feel better.


Now I want to tell you about some ear problems and how do deal with them.

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