How come whenever we lay down and close our eyes when intoxicated that it feels like we are spinning and not really when our eyes are open
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Ok so, you’ve got 3 systems to help you maintain balance. You can function with just two*
You’ve got your vestibular system, its a series of canals and a few chambers attached to your cochlea in your inner ear. The canals and chambers are filled with fluid, fluid that pushes on gel, or that has heavy ‘stone’ on top of the gel, which then moves.
Youve got your eyesight, your eyes and ears are intrinsically linked, with reflexes going from ears to eye to keep eyesight steady. But also that eyesight information is used as feedback, your brain uses this information to establish balance.
You’ve got your proprioception/touch sense of balance, your brain knows what your muscles and joints are doing, where they are and how active they are, and also uses this information to create a sense of balance.
So you’re drunk, you’ve mucked with the inner ear (Alcohol does this for various reasons, others can get into that). But you’ve still mostly got your vision and your touch/proprioception firing right. You’re ok, you can function.
But then you lay down and close your eyes? All of a sudden we’ve lost another of the 3 systems the brain uses for balance. We’ve lost one of the inputs, and we’re recieving messed up informatuon from the other. So you feel dizzy.
That’s why. Your brain uses sight, the vestibular system, and touch/proprioception, all 3, to create the sense of balance. By closing your eyes you’ve shut out another one of the inputs. Usually that’s fine, but you’ve also messed with the others by drinking. Now there’s an issue.
This is one of the symptoms that isn’t directly related to alcohol’s effect on the nervous system; instead it screws up the liquid-filled canals in your ear. Alcohol is less dense than water and, as it seeps into the canals, it sets up tiny currents due to the density differences, basically alcohol rising and water sinking. Normally, liquid moving in those canals is a signal that your head is rotating so the tiny currents due to alcohol are also interpreted as motion. The effect feels stronger when you close your eyes because then the brain has lost vision as a way to check on the ear’s balance sensors.
Other answers here about the vestibular system and vision are good, but it’s also worth noting that your vestibular system can influence your eyesight, and that’s why the room might also ‘look’ like it’s spinning. Basically, your brain tries to keep your eyes fixed when you move, and uses vestibular input to do that, kinda like OIS on a camera.
If you watch the eyes of someone who’s dizzy, they’ll move around as if they were tracking a fixed point in an actually spinning room!
Also if you ever suffer from labyrinthitis ( infection in inner or middle ear I think) you get the exact same room spinning effect. It lasted 24 hours until the antibiotics kicked in. Very unpleasant…
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Although not an explanation,but a tip to help is one of the things I do when I want to lay down and not be as dizzy when intoxicated is put one foot flat on the ground.
So my question is why did I experience this on big nights 15-20 years ago, but not anymore?
Does anyone else sometimes get that ‘room spinning’ feeling when you lie down? No drink involved, just sometimes when I try to sleep it feels like the room is spinning
A foot on the ground is a good tip but hard to do and feels weird when your bed is high.
I use my recliner. That way I can also go to sleep.
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