How to stop feeling dizzy after spinning

When you spin, the endolymph slowly moves in the direction you are spinning. The movement of the endolymph signals the brain that the head is spinning. The brain quickly adapts to the signal because the endolymph begins to move at the same rate that you are spinning and no longer stimulates the hair cells. However, when you stop spinning, the endolymph continues to move and stimulate hair cells in the opposite direction. These hair cells send signals to the brain. The brain determines that the head is still spinning, even though you have stopped. This is where the dizzy feeling comes from. Eventually, the endolymph stops moving, no signals are sent to the brain, your brain determines that your motion has stopped, and you no longer feel dizzy.

Table of Contents Show

Check if you have dizziness
How you can treat dizziness yourself
Non-urgent advice: See a GP if:
Causes of dizziness
What helps dizziness from spinning?
What causes dizziness by spinning?

Try this short experiment, unless you are extremely sensitive to dizziness.

Spin around 5-10 times rapidly to the right and stop. When you stop, you will feel slightly dizzy as described above.
When you have recovered, repeat step 1, but when you stop this time, immediately spin the same number of times to the left and stop. You should now find that when you stop, you do not feel as dizzy.

In the second situation, you have begun to move the endolymph in opposite directions and the two effects of motion tend to cancel out.

Frequently, astronauts in orbit become dizzy because, without the earth's strong gravity, they are constantly falling. Remember that sinking feeling in your stomach when your car hits a dip in the road or you experience a dip on a roller coaster ride. Imagine having that feeling all of the time! Because there is no clear orientation of gravity in space, the otolithic organs do not work well, so "up" or "down" becomes meaningless. Scuba divers have a similar experience. Buoyancy affects the otolithic organs in the same way as the lack of gravity does. Therefore, it is easy for a diver to become disoriented underwater and not know which way is up or down without other visual cues.

It's common to sometimes feel dizzy, lightheaded or off-balance, and it's not usually serious. See a GP if you're worried.

Check if you have dizziness

Dizziness includes feeling:

off-balance
giddy
lightheaded or faint
like you're spinning or things around you are spinning (vertigo)

How you can treat dizziness yourself

Dizziness usually goes away on its own. But there are things you can do to take care of yourself while you're feeling dizzy.

Do

lie down until the dizziness passes, then get up slowly
move slowly and carefully
get plenty of rest
drink plenty of fluids, especially water
avoid coffee, cigarettes, alcohol and drugs

Don’t

do not bend down suddenly
do not get up suddenly after sitting or lying down
do not do anything that could be dangerous while you're dizzy, like driving, climbing a ladder or using heavy machinery
do not lie totally flat if you feel like things are spinning

Non-urgent advice: See a GP if:

you're worried about your dizziness or vertigo
it will not go away or it keeps coming back
you're finding it harder to hear
there's ringing or other sounds in your ears (tinnitus)
you have double vision, blurred vision or other changes in your eyesight
your face, arms or legs feel numb
you have other symptoms like fainting, headaches, feeling or being sick

Causes of dizziness

If you have other symptoms, this might give you an idea of the cause. Do not self-diagnose. See a GP if you're worried.

Dizziness while you're ill with something else

Dizziness often goes away after you're treated for something else. For example:

an ear infection
migraine
dehydration or heat exhaustion
stress or anxiety
low blood sugar (hypoglycaemia) because of diabetes
iron deficiency anaemia
motion sickness

Dizziness for no obvious reason

Possible causes of dizziness when you're not ill.

Dizziness symptoms	Possible causes
When standing or sitting up suddenly	Sudden drop in blood pressure (postural hypotension)
Feeling off-balance, losing some hearing, ringing or other sounds in your ears (tinnitus)	Inner-ear problems
Feeling off-balance or like things are spinning, feeling or being sick, sometimes after a cold or flu	Labyrinthitis
After starting new prescription medicine	Side effect of medicine
With symptoms like hearing loss, double vision, blurred vision, numb face, arms or legs	Decreased blood flow to the brain, possibly from clogged arteries (atherosclerosis)

Page last reviewed: 24 April 2020
Next review due: 24 April 2023

What helps dizziness from spinning?

Vertigo Treatment to Get Rid of Spinning, Dizziness.

Physical Therapy to Improve Balance and Inner Ear Issues. ... .

Canalith Repositioning, Also Known as the Epley Maneuver. ... .

Medication That Targets the Cause of Your Symptoms. ... .

Surgery: an Uncommon Treatment for Special Cases. ... .

Injections: When Other Treatments Haven't Worked..

What causes dizziness by spinning?

Overview. Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is one of the most common causes of vertigo — the sudden sensation that you're spinning or that the inside of your head is spinning. BPPV causes brief episodes of mild to intense dizziness. It is usually triggered by specific changes in your head's position.