Originally published on September 27, 2013
Years of practice cause physical changes in ballerinas' brains that make them less prone to feeling dizzy, according to a study by the Imperial College London's medicine department published in the journal Cerebral Cortex.
Scientists found that ballerinas are less likely to feel dizzy when they pirouette because of structural changes that occur in two parts of their brains: in the vestibular cerebellum, the area in the cerebellum the processes signals from balance organs in the inner ear; and in white matter in their cerebral cortexes, which is responsible for perception of dizziness.
For the study, 29 ballerinas and 20 female rowers were spun around in chairs in a dark room. The dancers reported significantly shorter periods of dizziness than the rowers.
The fluid-filled vestibular organs in the inner ear measure movement with tiny hairs that sense the shifting of the fluid and send a signal to the brain. People feel dizzy for a time even after they've stopped moving because the fluid keeps moving.
MRI scans showed that the ballerina's vestibular cerebellums, the area in the cerebellum the processes signals from vestibular organs in the inner ear measure, were smaller among ballerinas, becoming smaller the more experienced the dancer was.
The scans showed that the dancers had less white matter in their cerebellums. More white matter means a person is more likely to feel dizzy.
Scientists hope these findings can help people who suffer from chronic dizziness, which one in four people suffer from at some point in their lives, according to the report.
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