Ever wondered why you get that terrible dizzy feeling when drunk?

A price...

That is what you pay after a night of heavy intoxication, regardless of the success of the night there will always be a time where you have drunk too much, causing a heavy dose of dizziness and nausea to occur before sleeping, or even throughout the next day. This feeling I am far too familiar with, and it got me thinking... "Why do we feel this horrible feeling of unsteadiness?" this then reminded me of something I learnt last year. So after consulting my books I find it is related to something called the "Vestibular Sensation". This is our sense of up and down, and gives us the ability to know if we are moving or not, now this vestibular sensation can be found within the "Semicircular Canals" which are within our ear not far from the corners of our eyes, these canals contain a thick liquid which acts as a kind of internal spirit level and informs us of our head movements.

Right so I have explained the factors involved with alcohol related dizziness, but why does it make us dizzy?

Well once the alcohol is in the blood stream it diffuses into the inner ear (strange right?) this in turn then modifies the density of the fluid inside the semicircular canals. Because the equilibrium has been disrupted and normal functioning of the vestibular system has diminished, this then initiates a powerful case of disequilibrium. 

If you are lucky you can just ignore it and go to sleep, but if not then being sick is almost a definite alternative. One thing that does strike me curious though is once we have been sick is how the dizziness sometimes subsides and regularity is restored. But I guess that can be a question for another time :)