How does fainting work and what can you do about it?

Answer

Dear Beau,

Fainting can have many different causes. You lose consciousness as soon as the brain does not get enough oxygen: even a few seconds is enough to pass out! The most common reasons for fainting are a drop in blood pressure, or an arrhythmia.

In an arrhythmia, the heart suddenly beats much too fast or too slow, so that not enough blood is pumped around. This can best be detected by a doctor.

However, the most common reason for fainting is a drop in blood pressure. This can be due to old age or medication, but often also occurs in childhood. Typical triggering factors for what we call “vagal syncope” are emotional stress, standing or sitting for a long time, excessive heat, insufficient drinking, etc. Your body then no longer manages to return the blood that is drawn to your legs by gravity. pump up in time. When you lie down, this problem usually goes away quickly.

What you can do yourself to avoid this is eat and drink enough in the morning, do not sit or stand completely still (move your legs regularly up and down or tense the muscles of your upper and lower legs to avoid fainting), and above all don’t be afraid of the material of biology ;-))

But discuss the problem with your doctor to make sure that it is a trivial problem.