THE INNER EAR
Three loops of fluid
Each inner ear has three fluid-filled semicircular canals, set roughly at right angles. When your head turns, the fluid moves and bends tiny hair cells.
Check a movementStart
WHAT THE SCIENCE SAYS
The room
keeps turning.
You stop spinning. Your inner ear doesn't, quite.
Fluid in three tiny canals tells your brain when your head turns. After a fast spin it keeps moving for a moment, and that mismatch is the giddy feeling. Dancers fight it with their eyes, and years of practice.
3 CANALSin each inner ear
Check a movementKeep in mind
- Fix your eyes on a spot
- Turn the head last
- Stop, then stay still
- Spin smarter, not dizzier
THE SHORT ANSWER
It's the fluid,
then the brain.
Your balance organs sense turning.
Your brain decides how dizzy you feel.
AFTER A SPIN
Why the room still turns
When you stop after turning fast, the fluid keeps moving for a moment, so your brain is told you are still spinning when you are standing still.
See the study
DANCERS
Eyes on one spot
Dancers use spotting: the body turns smoothly while the head whips round to find the same point again, giving the eyes a fixed focus.
Try spottingGeneral information only, not medical advice. For advice about your own health, speak to a doctor, pharmacist or other qualified health professional.
A QUICK MOVEMENT CHECK
What is your head
doing right now?
Pick a movement to see which part of the balance system is working. The bar shows how likely that moment is to leave you feeling giddy.
Based on the US NIDCD balance guide and Imperial College London research. General information, not personal medical advice.
TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING
Dancers' brains
learn to ignore it.
One figure from the dancer study,
one on how common dizziness is.
29 vs 20
Ballet dancers compared with rowers
Imperial researchers spun 29 female ballet dancers and 20 female rowers in a chair in the dark. In dancers, both the eye reflexes and the feeling of still spinning lasted a shorter time.
THE STUDY · IMPERIAL COLLEGE
≈ 1 in 4
People with chronic dizziness at some point
The researchers note that around one in four people experience chronic dizziness at some time in their lives, which is why they hope the dancer findings could help patients.
DIZZINESS · IMPERIAL COLLEGE
MRI scans showed a part of the cerebellum that processes balance signals was smaller in dancers. The researchers think years of training teach the brain to turn down that input.
HOW DANCERS DO IT
Turn without
the wobble.
Spotting is a dance technique, not a treatment. It is simply how dancers keep their bearings in a turn, and it is easy to try slowly at home with space around you.
Step 1
Pick a spot at eye level
Choose a fixed point such as a light switch or a picture. Dancers sometimes use a light or another dancer.
Step 2
Let the body lead
Turn the body smoothly while the eyes stay on the spot for as long as they can.
Step 3
Whip the head round last
When the head can't stay any longer, turn it quickly to find the same spot again before the body arrives.
Step 4
If you feel giddy, stop
NHS advice for dizziness: lie down until it passes, get up slowly, and don't drive or climb a ladder while dizzy.
FEELING VERSUS REFLEX
Two signals,
not one.
After a spin your eyes flick back and forth by reflex, and you also feel as if you are turning. In the rowers these two matched closely. In the dancers they had come apart.
The Imperial team says this matters for clinics: testing only the eye reflexes can miss part of the story, so they suggest tests that look at both the reflex and the sensation of dizziness.
Questions
Questions on the way
Why do I feel dizzy after spinning?
The semicircular canals in your inner ear are filled with fluid that moves when your head turns. When you stop after spinning quickly, the fluid keeps moving for a moment, so your brain still gets a turning signal.
How do ballet dancers avoid getting dizzy?
They use spotting, fixing the eyes on one point and whipping the head round. An Imperial College study also found that years of training seem to help dancers' brains suppress signals from the balance organs.
What did the dancer brain scans show?
An area of the cerebellum that processes signals from the balance organs was smaller in dancers than in rowers, and less signal seemed to reach the part of the cortex linked to feeling dizzy.
What does the inner ear's balance system include?
Three semicircular canals that sense rotation, and two pouches, the utricle and saccule, that sense head position relative to gravity and straight-line movement. They work with your eyes and body sense.
When should I see a GP about dizziness?
The NHS says dizziness is common and usually not serious, but to see a GP if you are worried, if it will not go away or keeps coming back, or if it comes with other symptoms such as hearing changes or numbness.
Destination