When people get dizzy from spinning around, they sometimes spin the other way to get less dizzy. My default reaction is, no way that can actually work.
So, does it work?
(I remember trying inconclusively to research this.)
When you spin, your endolymph moves against hair cells in your semicircular canals. This tells your brain that you are spinning. But the hair cells respond strongly to changes in movement, and when you continue to spin, there is no change in movement—your vestibular system is telling your body that you aren’t really moving much, rather, the world is spinning, and you are still. This leads to sensory integration issues, and you start to feel dizzy and nauseous. Stopping spinning doesn’t help too much—suddenly your hair cells get a jerk from you stopping spinning, and say that you are moving when you are not, and you get more conflicting sensory information.
When you start spinning again, you get consistent sensory inputs—your vestibular system tells you that you are spinning, and you are. This is a good thing for maybe a spin or two, but then you will start getting conflicting input again, and get dizzier. I’m not sure that it matters which direction you spin. It is possible that the continuing motion of your endolymph (in the direction you were spinning) might be enough to lessen the triggering of hair cells when you start to spin in the same direction, while spinning in the opposite direction (against the flow) gives a stronger trigger. But that is speculation on my part.
Footnote: When dancers turn their heads to focus on a single spot, this works both because they are consistently orienting themselves visually, and because the sudden movements of their head tells their vestibular system that they are spinning—no conflict in sensory input.
“No way” might be overstating my past self. (Or maybe I’m misremembering my past self.)
I think it just seems like a really silly thing to do, like trying to heal a would by sewing it together. Like I can kind of see why someone might, in a cargo-culty way, think these things might help, but surely they’re just going to make the problem worse?
Clearly this is not a very reliable instinct, on my part.
Suppose someone said: “my clothes are cold and wet, so I’m dipping them in warm water so they dry faster”. I think I’d have a similar reaction to that. Like sure, warm water evaporates faster, but… really? You think that’s going to help?
(If that turns out to work, I will be very annoyed.)
I’m not sure I had any explicit mechanisms in mind. These were gut reactions. But I can try to elaborate on the reactions.
With dizziness: you’ve spun to get dizzy and now you’re spinning more and that’s obviously just going to get you more dizzy.
With stitches: the problem is a hole in your skin and you’re trying to fix it by adding more holes and running some thread through them? Thread does not belong inside your body!
(I discovered that when reading Order of the Phoenix. “It sounds as though you’ve been trying to sew your skin back together, but even you, Arthur, wouldn’t be that stupid.” Wait, that actually is what stiches are?)
The standard tactic dancers use to prevent getting dizzy is about having a visual fix point towards which they orient themselves. It’s not about using the ear (the organ responsible for balance) differently.
It’s true that dancers use a visual fix point, and that also works, probably better. I have no idea why. Do you?
Movements having goals is essential for the way our brain coordinates them.
However, turning in the opposite direction also works, and has a basis in the balance mechanism.
It can help but when dancing Salsa I couldn’t simply remove dissyness completely from a dance parter by turning her in the other direction. It could help a bit, but not fully.
When people get dizzy from spinning around, they sometimes spin the other way to get less dizzy. My default reaction is, no way that can actually work.
So, does it work?
(I remember trying inconclusively to research this.)
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/198ld3/does_spinning_in_the_opposite_direction_really/
When you spin, your endolymph moves against hair cells in your semicircular canals. This tells your brain that you are spinning. But the hair cells respond strongly to changes in movement, and when you continue to spin, there is no change in movement—your vestibular system is telling your body that you aren’t really moving much, rather, the world is spinning, and you are still. This leads to sensory integration issues, and you start to feel dizzy and nauseous. Stopping spinning doesn’t help too much—suddenly your hair cells get a jerk from you stopping spinning, and say that you are moving when you are not, and you get more conflicting sensory information.
When you start spinning again, you get consistent sensory inputs—your vestibular system tells you that you are spinning, and you are. This is a good thing for maybe a spin or two, but then you will start getting conflicting input again, and get dizzier. I’m not sure that it matters which direction you spin. It is possible that the continuing motion of your endolymph (in the direction you were spinning) might be enough to lessen the triggering of hair cells when you start to spin in the same direction, while spinning in the opposite direction (against the flow) gives a stronger trigger. But that is speculation on my part.
Footnote: When dancers turn their heads to focus on a single spot, this works both because they are consistently orienting themselves visually, and because the sudden movements of their head tells their vestibular system that they are spinning—no conflict in sensory input.
can you explain this more? I am interested in what you mean and how the state of this belief feels...
“No way” might be overstating my past self. (Or maybe I’m misremembering my past self.)
I think it just seems like a really silly thing to do, like trying to heal a would by sewing it together. Like I can kind of see why someone might, in a cargo-culty way, think these things might help, but surely they’re just going to make the problem worse?
Clearly this is not a very reliable instinct, on my part.
I am still confused; maybe can you describe the mechanism by which it would cause the “not helpful” things to happen?
Suppose someone said: “my clothes are cold and wet, so I’m dipping them in warm water so they dry faster”. I think I’d have a similar reaction to that. Like sure, warm water evaporates faster, but… really? You think that’s going to help?
(If that turns out to work, I will be very annoyed.)
I’m not sure I had any explicit mechanisms in mind. These were gut reactions. But I can try to elaborate on the reactions.
With dizziness: you’ve spun to get dizzy and now you’re spinning more and that’s obviously just going to get you more dizzy.
With stitches: the problem is a hole in your skin and you’re trying to fix it by adding more holes and running some thread through them? Thread does not belong inside your body!
Assuming you mean “heal a wound”, sewing a wound together is a rather common treatment for wounds.
Yes, I was poking fun at myself.
(I discovered that when reading Order of the Phoenix. “It sounds as though you’ve been trying to sew your skin back together, but even you, Arthur, wouldn’t be that stupid.” Wait, that actually is what stiches are?)
Oops, sorry about missing what should have been obvious!
In my non-RCT experience :-) yes, this does work.
Placebo effect should be enough to make it work if you believe strongly that it works.
Nope. It’s actually related to how one’s sense of balance works.
The standard tactic dancers use to prevent getting dizzy is about having a visual fix point towards which they orient themselves. It’s not about using the ear (the organ responsible for balance) differently.
It’s true that dancers use a visual fix point, and that also works, probably better. I have no idea why. Do you?
However, turning in the opposite direction also works, and has a basis in the balance mechanism.
Movements having goals is essential for the way our brain coordinates them.
It can help but when dancing Salsa I couldn’t simply remove dissyness completely from a dance parter by turning her in the other direction. It could help a bit, but not fully.