Seeing Stars
- The expression seeing stars is frequently
used to describe fighters hit hard on the head. There is a 1609 quotation
that seems to imply its use, but it is first recorded in the 1891 Century
Dictionary: "To see stars, to have a sensation as of flashes of light,
produced by a sudden jarring of the head, as by a direct blow." The
phenomenon results from a change in blood flow to the brain. According
to neurologist Dr. C. Boyd Campbell: "Blood supplies nerve cells with
oxygen, sugar, and other vital nutrients. Any loss of blood to the brain
- easily caused by standing up, an action that forces blood away from the
head - deprives the nerve cells of these nutrients. This causes a brief,
random firing of neurons, which is interpreted by the brain's visual
cortex as quick flashes of light, or 'stars." The phenomenon is also
produced by a blow to the head or by stimulating the eye electrically,
both of which alter the normal state of nerve cells."