Skipping lunch break, or not eating enough, during a busy day of work, can induce dizziness due to hypoglycemia, i.e. a reduction in blood sugar levels – explains Professor Daniela Lucini, Head of the Medicine Section of the Exercise and Functional Pathologies at Humanitas Hospital. – Dizziness, as well as the feeling of fainting, can have various causes which may require different interventions. For e.g., if the cause is hypoglycemia, drinking some sweetened water or fruit juice can bring back up the blood glucose levels and resolve the dizziness. However, if the person is diabetic it is necessary to check the blood sugar, because the same symptoms could refer to both hypo and hyperglycemia, i.e. low and high levels of sugar in the blood, respectively. Therefore, dizziness requires different interventions, starting with not giving sugary drinks. Dizziness and feeling of fainting should never be underestimated because they can be also caused by serious illnesses that require medical intervention, such as labyrinthitis, which is a vestibular problem, or a transient reduction of blood flow to the brain, i.e. TIA (Transient Ischemic Attack). Other causes of dizziness are, for example, hypertension, allergies, cervical arthrosis, cervicalgia, all of which do not resolve spontaneously and require specific treatments.
