Got a bad spell of vertigo while lying in bed, so I put one foot over the edge to have it flat on the floor. The dizziness got better in short order. How and why does this happen?
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I don’t 100% know the reason. But it probably has to do with proprioception. Proprioception is your body’s ability to know where it is in space without looking. You use this sense all the time. Close your eyes and reach up and grab your ear. how do you find your ear with your hand with your eyes closed? proprioception.
Your body uses a LOT of different organs to maintain a sense of balance. These include proprioception and sight, among others. Dizziness is generally caused by something going on with your inner ear, which is responsible for balance. If the inner ear gets messed up for some reason and is sending crazy signals to your brain, you start to feel dizzy and like things are spinning. One thing you might have noticed that makes this better is keeping your eyes open. This is because your brain can look at what your eyes are seeing and know that something isn’t quite right with the signals your ear is sending. Proprioception can also help. If you have your feet planted on the floor your brain KNOWS your foot is planted solidly on the floor even if your ear says it’s spinning around. This also relieves some of the dizziness.
It’s all about your brain and its ability to sort through conflicting signals telling it different things. The more correct signals you take away (close your eyes and don’t keep a foot on the floor) the more it listens to the wrong signal.
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