# What causes the strange "lagging" effect that you get when you have a cold?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-the-strange-lagging-effect-that-you-get-when-you-have-a-cold/784739>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 18, 2017, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-the-strange-lagging-effect-that-you-get-when-you-have-a-cold/784739 "2017-04-18T21:13:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dude\_robert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8e7dd6/32.png) [@dude\_robert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dude_robert)\
**Post date:** [April 18, 2017, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-the-strange-lagging-effect-that-you-get-when-you-have-a-cold/784739/1 "2017-04-18T21:13:28Z")

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So what exactly is the strange “laggy” effect that when they turn their heads about, their vision seems to lag slightly behind them, OR they have a funny “micro-blackout” effect that seems to feel like they’re fainting dozens of times but only for like 0.1 seconds each and every time.

I’ve had it before and it actually feels reasonably pleasurable when I turn my head around slowly and I get this lovely “brain stuttering” sensation.

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**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2017, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-the-strange-lagging-effect-that-you-get-when-you-have-a-cold/784739/2 "2017-04-19T03:55:42Z")

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Whilst we wait for someone who knows, I’ll posit inner ear problems for both.

Colds mess up your sense of balance by affecting the performance of the inner ear. This means you can feel dizzy, woozy - as if you are going to faint, and also mess up your sense of movement of the head. Laggy effect could simply be the inner ear’s sense of where the head is pointing being at variance with the eye’s idea.

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**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2017, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-the-strange-lagging-effect-that-you-get-when-you-have-a-cold/784739/3 "2017-04-19T20:43:21Z")

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> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#):
>
> Whilst we wait for someone who knows, I’ll posit inner ear problems for both.
> 
> Colds mess up your sense of balance by affecting the performance of the inner ear. This means you can feel dizzy, woozy - as if you are going to faint, and also mess up your sense of movement of the head. Laggy effect could simply be the inner ear’s sense of where the head is pointing being at variance with the eye’s idea.

Something like that would have been my guess as well (and it is just a guess).

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**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2017, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-causes-the-strange-lagging-effect-that-you-get-when-you-have-a-cold/784739/4 "2017-04-19T20:47:53Z")

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Some can be inner ear off balance from congestion etc, some of it can be the 103 degree fever you are running causing your brain to do a tribute to “This is your brain on drugs”

_**When I was a child I had a fever  
My hands felt just like two balloons  
Now I’ve got that feeling once again  
I can’t explain, you would not understand  
This is not how I am**_