A red-faced student managed to persuade lecturers to give her an exam extension as 'she made herself dizzy by spinning on her chair' while revising - even submitting footage of her antics as 'evidence'. University of Bradford student Zonera Williams was diligently studying for her exams in the library on the morning of her exam and while memorising key info repeatedly spun around in her chair.
The clinical sciences student thought that the repeated spinning motion helps her while studying and had been filming herself in bid to enhance her focus. But after five minutes of continuous spinning, the 21-year-old claims she suddenly felt 'very nauseous' and collapsed on the floor - resulting in an ambulance being called.
The third-year student was rushed to Bradford Royal Infirmary an hour after her dizzy spell first began and was checked over by doctors who said she'd given herself acute vertigo from chair spinning. Despite being discharged from hospital the same day, Zonera missed her exam and admits this left her 'very scared'.
Red-faced Zonera submitted video footage of her spinning on the chair, along with a doctor's note, to the university as extension request 'evidence'. To her surprise, the university accepted the explanation and she is due to sit her exam in the coming months - though she admits she's unsure how they would feel about it going viral.
The sheepish student, who shared her story on TikTok on May 6th, has vowed to never spin on a chair as she studies again. Zonera, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, said: "I had to send the video to my uni. I also included a doctor's note, because I didn't think the video was enough.
"I think they appreciated it honestly. They appreciated that there was evidence - the more evidence the better with uni.
"I don't think they cared that much but I was very embarrassed because I know my lecturers. "But I was very scared about my exam, and scared of missing it, so I just wanted to give as much evidence as I could.
"I submitted the evidence before I made the TikTok. I don't know how they [my lecturers] would feel if they knew it went viral. I can sit the exam again. I was just surprised that they accepted it, because I didn't think it was that serious."
The baffled student had no idea that vertigo could be caused by spinning on chairs. Zonera said: "I spin on chairs as a stim [stimulation], but I don't think I [usually] do it as fast. It was all just so sudden. One second, I was studying, and the next second I was just on the floor.
"I was reading the words at the same time as spinning, and I got more and more dizzy as I went along. By the end of it I felt very sick, very nauseous." She explained that on-site security guards came to check-up on her afterwards but the nausea wouldn't go away so an ambulance was called.
Zonera said: "I think the vertigo and the stress just compounded together. I had an exam upcoming, and that's just the worst. They called an ambulance because I was in a really bad state. I wasn't responding properly, I wasn't in my senses.
"I don't get ill that often, so I just couldn't cope with the physical side. It was this sickening stomach feeling, and my head was just pounding. It felt like being on a boat. The room was spinning, and emotionally I was extremely stressed. I just wanted to cry.
"Everything was spinning, I couldn't even text anyone. I had to go into survival mode for a bit. When I was in the ambulance, they tried to bring me around. I felt a lot safer because I was with someone and after a while started feeling better."
Since the incident happened on January 4th she says she now tests every chair that she sits on to make sure it doesn't rotate. Zonera said: "It's not the first time I've spun on a chair while studying but I was very stressed, I was going really fast.
"When they confirmed it was acute vertigo, I was like, 'wow, I didn't know I could experience that'. "I thought it was only something you could get on the seas and on transport - not from the library. "I felt really hopeless because I've never had that before and I didn't know vertigo could be that bad.
"I literally test every chair that I sit on now. I'm like, 'okay, I'm not spinning'. The experience of it, the imbalance you feel and the seasickness, it doesn't go away for a long time.
"The experience has made me want to stay away from spinning on chairs in general. I felt really bad, and I wouldn't recommend that students spin on chairs."
A University of Bradford spokesman said: "While we can't disclose individual student circumstances, student welfare is at the heart of everything we do at the University of Bradford and we strive to assist students in any way that we can."
Zonera shared her story on TikTok earlier this month where it racked up more than 70,000 likes, comments and shares. Users were quick to crack jokes in the comments while others were left baffled by the sequence of events.
One wrote: "Could you not just spin the other way?" Another user said: "Now why would you spin in your chair like that?"
A third added: "Would a doctor's note not be evidence enough?" A fourth shocked user said: "Lmao what is wrong with you?"
However others who had experienced vertigo echoed how severe it can be. One commented: "Vertigo is actually horrendous, I don't wish it upon my worst enemy." A second said: "Why would you do this? I constantly get vertigo and wish for it to be gone permanently."
