• Question: why do we feel dizzy when we spin?

    Asked by cherry1 to Amar, Ana, Andrea, Leah, Matt on 18 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Amar Joshi

      Amar Joshi answered on 18 Mar 2014:


      Our sense of balence in encoded by a small organ near our ears. The organ contains three fluid filled tubes. When you are balanced the information from these tubes and your eyes match up. Both agree.

      When you are spinning the fluid in these chambers is also moving. If you spin too fast, your eyes cannot keep up. The information from both of these are confusion and so you start to lose balance. When you stop spinning the fluid takes a second or two to stop. This is why it takes a little while to regain your balance.

      If you have ever seen ballerina’s twirl, you might notice that they try to keep looking in one direction and whip their head around quickly. By doing this they keep their eyes focused and prevent themselves getting dizzy.

    • Photo: Andrea Hanvey

      Andrea Hanvey answered on 18 Mar 2014:


      Excellent answer from Amar,

      There are some conditions tht make people feel dizzy with out doing any spinning. Vertigo and menieres syndrome. Vertigo is a symptom of menieres syndrome. It is the sudden feeling like the room is moving or spinning. There are a number of causes. One is called labryinthitits. Labryinthitits is inflammation of the canals that contain the fluid Amar and Leah have mentioned. The inflammation makes people feel really dizzy and sick

    • Photo: Leah Fitzsimmons

      Leah Fitzsimmons answered on 18 Mar 2014:


      As well as the three liquid-filled tubes Amar mentioned we also have some other organs in our ears that control whether we feel dizzy. When liquid swishes around our semicircular canals (the tubes) after we have stopped spinning the two conflicting pieces of information in our brains result in us becoming dizzy, but we also have other structures in our inner ears that control dizziness.
      When we move our heads around tiny crystals deep within our ears move because of the force of gravity, and this movement stimulates nerve cells which sends the appropriate message to the brain to tell us which way up we are. This is the system that makes astronauts in space and deep sea divers feel dizzy because their brains can’t tell which way is up or down without the normal effects of gravity.

    • Photo: Matthew Lam

      Matthew Lam answered on 19 Mar 2014:


      There is fluid in your ears which sloshes about when your move your head. This liquid hits cells in the ear which tell the brain that your head is moving – allowing you to adjust your body to keep balance. When your head moves really fast the liquid keeps sloshing onto the cells even when your head stops moving so your brain thinks you are still moving and the dizziness is your brain trying to work out how to sort your balance out.

Comments