Why do we feel dizzy when we twirl around?
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From the brains behind Brains On, this is the Bubble to Vub. Bubble to Vub comes to you from APM Studios. I'm Cece the dog. Woof woof! Yep, I've had a pretty good day so far. Woke up, tapped on my mom and dad's door, and they let me outside to pee. I drank some water, I scratched my butt on the coffee table, I went back to sleep for three hours, I woke up, I ate my breakfast, and then... What's that?

There's something behind me. Come here, you must-get-furry-thing-behind-me. Why can't I get it? It's like it's attached to me. Ouch! Ow, ow, ow!

It was my tail! Darn it! I should have known! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Why is the room spinning? Why am I so, so dizzy? Why do we feel dizzy when we twirl around? I better go back to bed. Woof, woof! Hello, this is Frank Rehm. I'm an infectious diseases physician at Lionel Health.

I have to answer this by talking about what the inner ear does. So if you feel your ear, there's a canal and then there's a eardrum and behind that there's a space and behind that there are two organs. One is how you hear and the other is how you get your balance.

And that balance thing is actually quite remarkable. It does all kinds of wonderful stuff. For instance, if I look at you and turn my head back and forth, my eyeball, to keep right on you,

has got to move. So if I move that way, my oddball's got to turn to the right. And your balance organ does that automatically. It knows where your head is and it makes those adjustments. It tells your eye muscles what to do so that you stay looking exactly where you want to. And it works. You can do all around that and you can just see it.

So that's really pretty clever. That balance organ has to tell your eye muscles where your head is so they make the right adjustments so you look where you want to look.

And those balance organs, when they get started in one direction and then you stop, they think you're going in that same direction. And they're trying to make an adjustment for that. And that's why you feel dizzy or vertigo. This is Cece the dog cutting back in to ask, if I want the dizzy feeling to go away fast, what do I do? Well, the trick there, if you ever watch ice skaters, for instance, when they twirl around really fast,

they don't keep their head in the same direction compared to their body. They look in one direction and then they snap it and they go all the way around and they snap it back. So they don't develop that momentum in their inner ear canals, their balance organ. And that's the way to prevent it. And once you got it, I think you just have to wait it out. Um, uh,

What I'm hearing is, I need to become a pro ice skater. 2026 Winter Olympics, here I come. First dog to win a gold medal. And the crowd goes wild. If you like this episode, take a second to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you are amazed that I'm a dog that's talking right now, and you want to learn more about the way voices work, check out the Braids On podcast where we have a whole episode all about how we make sound.

If you have a Moment of Um question, we'd love to help you answer it. Drop us a line by going to brainson.org slash contact. Moment of Um is produced by Molly Bloom, Rosie DuPont, Anna Goldfield, Ruby Guthrie, Mark Sanchez, Sandon Totten, and Anna Wagle.

We have production help from Emily Allen, Audrey Ngo, Marcus Arsvold, and engineering help from Alex Simpson. Our theme song is by Mark Sanchez. Our executive producer is Beth Perlman. The executives in charge of APM Studios are Chandra Kavadi, Alex Shaffert, and Joanne Griffith. Special thanks this week goes to Kisa Nishikawa, Frank Rehm, Martin Rees, and Penelope Freed.

See you next time and the next day and every woof day. Until then, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof. Hey, friends. Molly, Sandin, and Mark here with some very big news. Drumroll, please. Drumroll, please.

We're hitting the road in search of adventure, fresh air, and you. That's right. We're going to be live at the Boulder Theater in Boulder, Colorado on Sunday, April 27th. Our science-themed live stage show takes the audience on an adventure through the brain, complete with magic tricks, dance moves, out-of-body experiences, mystery sounds, and a game show. Molly, you almost left out the most important part.

Yeah, Molly, don't forget the big party. Oh, right. After the shows, we're throwing a brain-tastic bash. Join us afterward for a VIP party where we'll play games, guess mystery sounds, pose for photos, and give as many high fives as humanly possible. Snag a spot by purchasing a VIP pass when you buy your show ticket. Oh, that reminds me. I've got to start training. These hands aren't going to high five by themselves. Five and five. Good idea.

And remember, spots are limited, so grab your tickets today at brainson.org slash events.