March 5th has been established as the International CVS Awareness Day since 2015. The day is intended to be an international movement focused around increasing recognition and awareness of cyclic vomiting syndrome. Although these efforts are primarily patient-led, everyone including individuals, families, caregivers, healthcare professionals, researchers, clinicians, policy makers and the general public can participate in taking action and raising awareness of cyclic vomiting syndrome. There are many ways to raise awareness and you can help! Below are a few examples of what has been done in the past to raise awareness and some ways anyone can get involved to celebrate CVS awareness.

You can observe light’s color spectrum by viewing a light source through a diffraction grating in a dark room. A diffraction grating is used to separate light into its constituent colors. It is an arrangement of a large number of equidistant parallel narrow scratches of equal width which are separated by equal opaque sections.

Another great example of light diffraction in nature are the rings of light (corona) observed around the sun and other celestial bodies. This is caused by light wave diffraction by small particles in the atmosphere. Even the sky’s apparent blue color, is an example of light diffraction at work. When sunlight hits the earth’s atmosphere, colors of longer wavelengths simply pass through. However, blue, which has a relatively short wavelength, diffracts and scatters upon collision with the atmosphere’s molecules.

If you are going to any of these locations in-person, please follow the local guidelines and regulations. For more updates and additional locations check: https://givebutter.com/CVSAwarenessDay-2023

We encourage everyone, including individuals, families, caregivers, healthcare professionals, researchers, clinicians, policy makers, industry representatives and the public to consider ways that they can light up awareness and help drive change for those impacted by cyclic vomiting syndrome.

In Recognition of International Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome Awareness Day, held on March 5th, 2022, the Niagara Falls Illumination Board agreed to light up both the U.S. and Canadian sides of Niagara Falls with blue to help support of raising awareness of Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome!

Just as Huygen’s principle states, when a light wave comes in contact with a diffraction grating, the light disperses, forming many point sources with their centers at each slit. Constructive and destructive interference between the ‘new’ light waves occur where their valleys and peaks meet or oppose each other, respectively.

The CVS awareness ribbons being worn by some PGA tour members was just one way more attention was brought to CVS on March 5th. As you can see below, many efforts were made to bring much needed attention to CVS.

Explore the selection of fun products at the Rainbow Symphony store to continue your exploration of light diffraction, including our diffraction glasses and rainbow suncatchers. We also carry three types of diffraction grating slides: the double axis 13,500 line/in diffraction grating slide, the linear 1000 line/mm diffraction grating slide, and the linear 500 line/mm diffraction grating slide.

Constructive interference occurs in different directions for different colors due to the differing wavelengths of the colors that make up the visible spectrum. Based on this, we can point a diffraction grating at a white light source and view the different colors in the spectrum.

March 5th is CVS Awareness Day and the Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome Association, and its volunteers, having been working to #LightUpCVSAwareness by getting iconic landmarks, buildings, bridges and locations across the US and Canada to light up blue in honor of CVS awareness day. Having these beacons of light provides a platform and opportunity that we can all use to participate in increasing awareness of cyclic vomiting syndrome.

It’s was a family affair, in more ways than one. Four of the players are Georgia alums like Bryant and Abbi. Bryant later coached Poston at Western Carolina – and was among those celebrating at Sedgefield Country Club last August when he made the Wyndham Championship his first TOUR title. “It just shows us how blessed we are to have friends and family that they keep up with us and care about our situation, and they want to use their platform to help,” says Bryant, who won the 2001 SEC Championship and played one year on the Korn Ferry Tour before deciding to go into coaching. “And it’s satisfying to know that we can help some people because we know what a difficult time, we’ve had going through it.” A year ago, the same five players made donations for birdies and bogeys during the entire month of March. This year, though, the decision was made to focus attention on this week since Thursday is international Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome Awareness day. On Thursday Charley’s class wore blue in honor of CVS International Day (Pictured below)

If you are going to any of these locations in-person, please follow the local guidelines and regulations. For more updates and additional locations check: https://givebutter.com/CVSAwarenessDay-2023

Share photos of locations lighting up, share your experiences and stories on social media platforms and share how CVS impacts you. Use hashtags #LightUpCVSAwareness and #CVSAwareness

For the most current information on what is lighting up in the UK please visit the CVSA UK Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CVSAUK

The week of International CVS Awareness Day in 2020, a group of PGA TOUR players are going to help Bryant, the golf coach at Kennesaw State, his wife Abbi, and daughter Charley (pictured above) raised awareness about the rare disorder. At the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard, J.T. Poston, Keith Mitchell, Harris English (also pictured above), Kevin Kisner and Brian Harman wore a blue ribbon in support of the Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome and CVSA.

The Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome Association (CVSA) would like to extend a very energetic thank you to all the monuments, bridges, buildings, and locations that have agreed to light up on March 5th in recognition of International CVS Awareness Day. CVSA would also like to express our gratitude to all volunteers and individuals that worked on the outreach requesting and setting up light-ups.

These phenomena are not unique to visible light waves. In fact, they can be observed for any wave, including sound waves, water waves, or any wave in the electromagnetic spectrum. However, this blog will focus on the wonders of diffraction of visible light waves.

For the most current information on what is lighting up in the UK please visit the CVSA UK Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CVSAUK

The Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome Association (CVSA) would like to extend a very energetic thank you to all the monuments, bridges, buildings, and locations that have agreed to light up on March 5th in recognition of International CVS Awareness Day. CVSA would also like to express our gratitude to all volunteers and individuals that worked on the outreach requesting and setting up light-ups.

Examples of light diffraction can be seen in nature every day! Take, for instance, a cloud’s ‘silver lining’. This visual effect is a result of sunlight bending around the edge of the cloud. The various colors sometimes observed in clouds is another example of light being diffracted, this time by the clouds water droplets. This is called cloud iridescence and is most often observed in cirrocumulus, altocumulus, lenticular, and cirrus clouds. The different colors illustrate how waves of different wavelengths are diffracted differently and ‘scattered’.

We encourage everyone, including individuals, families, caregivers, healthcare professionals, researchers, clinicians, policy makers, industry representatives and the public to consider ways that they can light up awareness and help drive change for those impacted by cyclic vomiting syndrome.

Whatever you choose to do, and whenever you choose to do it, we want to hear about it. Send us an email (cvsa@cvsaonline.org) or share what you do on social media. Don’t forget to tag CVSA and use the hashtag #CVSAwareness.

Contact our team at Rainbow Symphony today for help adding splashes of color to your life and turning experiences from ordinary to extraordinary. Also, keep checking our blog for stimulating discussions on all things relating to light and color.

Social media has helped bring more recognition to all kinds of issues and conditions. We would like to encourage you to share your story. There are many ways and platforms for you to do that. You can share your story on social media. Consider creating a Facebook Fundraiser benefiting the work that CVSA does, share your story on it, and ask your friends and family to share. CVSA also has a “Share Your Story” page where you can share your CVS journey in words, pictures, and videos; you can update it at any time. It is a user-friendly interface where templates have already been set up, you just need to fill in your story and update it as you please. Then share it with your family and friends via email or social media.

Light waves are known to behave in one of three ways when they reach the boundary of a medium. That is, the end of one medium and/or the beginning of another. They are either reflected, refracted, or diffracted.

Share photos of locations lighting up, share your experiences and stories on social media platforms and share how CVS impacts you. Use hashtags #LightUpCVSAwareness and #CVSAwareness

In 2021, CVSA encouraged everyone to use our #oneword printable to share their own word to describe CVS. Afterward they printed it and wrote their one word and submitted photos directly to or tagged CVSA. If you feel like sharing yours on social media, tag CVSA so we can share it on our page as well. Find the #oneword printable here.

If you’d like to see Niagara Falls light up for CVS Awareness, you can view a recording of it on the CVSA YouTube page here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx0F9phkTUY&ab_channel=CyclicVomitingSyndromeAssociation

March 5th is CVS Awareness Day and the Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome Association, and its volunteers, having been working to #LightUpCVSAwareness by getting iconic landmarks, buildings, bridges and locations across the US and Canada to light up blue in honor of CVS awareness day. Having these beacons of light provides a platform and opportunity that we can all use to participate in increasing awareness of cyclic vomiting syndrome.

Light Diffraction is a complex topic, but at Rainbow Symphony, we take great pride in being a gateway to the joys of science for learners at all levels. We’ll take you step-by-step through the basics and show you how you can do your own fun experiments and learn the science of diffraction.

Let’s start with Huygen’s Principle. Christiaan Huygens was a brilliant Dutch physicist, mathematician, inventor, and astronomer, known especially for his contributions to optics and mechanics. The explanations for all three phenomena of light wave behavior are rooted in Huygen’s principle, which states that every point on a wavefront is a source of wavelets, which spread forward at the same speed.

The Bethel family of Kentucky spread awareness on International Day in multiple ways! They held a restaurant fundraiser at the Sugarfire Smokehouse; the restaurant donated 15% of their sales that day to CVSA. They also sent challenged their friends and family via social media and email to wear blue on March 5th and to send their pictures to them. For everyone that sent them a picture, the Bethel family pledged to donate $2 to CVSA; they had 107 participants in this challenge! Lastly, they did something called “Card Your Yard” (pictured below). They had many people stop and ask what it meant and how they could help. They were able to pass out CVSA pens, bracelets, and brochures to those that stopped to help spread the word about CVS. These are all great ideas to spread awareness within their community. Thank you, Bethel family!

International CVS Awareness Day is a community-driven movement to increase public recognition of CVS and impact change regarding access to diagnosis and treatment for those impacted by cyclic vomiting syndrome. This is a once-a-year opportunity that we, as a community, can use our voices, individual stories, and experiences to reduce stigma associated with CVS, increase the recognition of and impact the understanding of cyclic vomiting syndrome.

All electromagnetic waves are light, but only light from a certain section of the electromagnetic spectrum is visible to the human eye. Electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength between 380 nm and 760 nm is visible to the human eye. This range is referred to as the visible light spectrum. On the electromagnetic spectrum, the visible light spectrum falls between infrared and ultraviolet waves. The visible effects of diffraction are most pronounced when the length of the opening through which the wave is passing is close to the light’s wavelength.

March of 2022 CVSA and a handful of volunteers who were able to aid in getting bridges, buildings, and iconic places to light up in blue to “Light up Awareness of the Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome”.

Over the course of a few weeks CVSA shared updates on what buildings, bridges, landmarks, and monuments that lit up in support of spreading awareness and recognition of cyclic vomiting syndrome. In addition to these posts, CVSA shared videos of conversations with patients and families about experiences with CVS. You can see these videos and more with other volunteers from previous years by visiting the CVSA YouTube page!

Excerpt from: Ross, Helen. “Helping hands: TOUR players trying to raise awareness of rare disease”. PGATOUR.COM. 4 March 2020.

International CVS Awareness Day is a community-driven movement to increase public recognition of CVS and impact change regarding access to diagnosis and treatment for those impacted by cyclic vomiting syndrome. This is a once-a-year opportunity that we, as a community, can use our voices, individual stories, and experiences to reduce stigma associated with CVS, increase the recognition of and impact the understanding of cyclic vomiting syndrome.