Why can screens make you dizzy?
Balance depends on your inner ear, your eyes and your body’s sense of position agreeing with each other. When they disagree, for example when a page scrolls while you sit still, your brain can read it as motion, and that can cause dizziness or nausea.
Some people are far more affected than others. In visual vertigo, busy or moving surroundings, like supermarket aisles, crowds or scrolling screens, bring on symptoms. In a clinical study of people with visual vertigo, most also had a problem with the inner ear’s balance system and leaned heavily on vision to stay steady.1
Vestibular migraine and light
Vestibular migraine is one of the most common causes of recurring vertigo, and it doesn’t always come with a headache. Sensitivity to light and sound during episodes is one of the migraine features doctors look for when diagnosing it.2 People with migraine can also grow more sensitive to flicker with repeated exposure.3 See migraines, headaches and screens.
What is flicker vertigo?
Bright light that flickers slowly, roughly a few to 20 times a second, can cause dizziness, nausea and disorientation in some people. Pilots know it as flicker vertigo, from sunlight flashing through propeller blades or rotors. Most screens flicker much faster than that, but it shows how directly flicker can affect balance.
How to make screens easier when you get dizzy
- Turn on “reduce motion” in your operating system and browser to cut animations and parallax effects.
- Scroll page by page with the keyboard instead of flicking quickly.
- Use larger text and simpler, less busy layouts.
- Keep the screen at a steady brightness that matches the room.
- Choose a screen without flicker or glare: DC dimming and no dithering.