


When an ear is damaged, it heals by compensation. Doing a workout might not feel good, but it does not further injure your ear. If the vertigo is a constant spinning for hours or days at a time, in general exercising does not cause further damage. Sometimes just turning your head can make you vomit. During this time, moving the head quickly or trying to walk can make the spinning speed up. When an inner ear is damaged the room can spin for several days. There are many other forms of vertigo, and exercising while you are dizzy will usually make the vertigo more intense. When you have a BPPV spell, other than a risk of falling, the vertigo does not do any damage to your inner ear or body, so it is important to continue being active even though you have symptoms. That means yoga, toe touches, sit-ups, even sex! If the vertigo is less than a minute long, and if it usually follows a head movement, the best thing to do is use our vertigo exercises, available on video and in our book. Any movement that involves lying down, raising the head from the floor or tipping the head up or down can set off a brief spin in people with BPPV. The most common form of vertigo with exercise is BPPV. But what do you do if exercise sets off vertigo? Is the dizziness a sign you are hurting yourself even more? Should you avoid exercise? That depends on the kind of vertigo you are experiencing. If you want to slow aging, exercise is key. If you want to lose weight, you should diet and exercise. It’s a mantra everywhere: exercise is good for you.
