What is happening when you “see stars” for a moment after you take a big stretch, stand up too fast or take a blow to the head etc?? ….

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I’m taking about the bright dots which appear that seem to zip around in your sight for five seconds or so, usually after one of the above…..?

In: Biology

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Familiar from cartoon strips, this bizarre phenomenon is caused by the generation of so-called phosphenes – illusory flashes of light caused by pressure on the light-receiving cells in our eyes. The simplest – and least painful – way of generating them is by gently pressing on your closed eyelids then opening your eyes. Isaac Newton came up with another method while investigating the nature of light: sliding a bodkin (a think, blunt needle) between his eye and the socket-bone. Not recommended. From science focus. com

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