Why do we faint?

All of a sudden you are no longer in control of your senses and you lose all perception of the outside world:  fainting  (lat. syncope) is a frightening condition. There are some typical situations in which fainting occurs particularly frequently in people.  For example, fainting often occurs with very  low blood pressure or states of shock. But why does man faint at all? Which processes in the organism are responsible for this?

Disturbance of cerebral circulation as a cause of fainting

A brief period of unconsciousness is called fainting, because during this time you are “without power” over your mental and thus physical processes. The most common cause of fainting is a temporary  disruption in cerebral circulation. 

The brain is a sophisticated and complex system that reacts immediately to the slightest irregularity. The body knows how to protect itself and is programmed  to maintain life-sustaining bodily functions  in emergency situations. Thus, he reduces his higher brain functions in order to maintain vital processes such as breathing and heartbeat.

Possible cause: malfunction of a nerve center

A brief disruption in blood flow to the brain can be caused by a malfunction in one of the nerve centers that control heart function and are attached to the heart and the arteries in the heart. The  center of blood pressure regulation is also located there.  Disturbances result in a brief drop in blood pressure.

Other causes of fainting

The syncopes (short-term unconsciousness or fainting) differ depending on the nerve center affected. One distinguishes:

• vagovascular syncope (unconsciousness occurs due to drop in blood pressure and heart rate)
• Voiding syncope (unconsciousness occurs when urinating)
• cough syncope
• orthostatic syncope (unconsciousness occurs as soon as the person moves from the horizontal to the vertical position) and
• the Adam-Stokes seizure, in which our biological pacemaker in the heart briefly stops.

In  clinical  shock  , fainting occurs due to loss of blood from injury or when blood vessels become slack and the venous return of blood to the heart stops.

In order to find the medical cause of fainting, it is crucial to determine whether the fainting was followed by a fall, because syncope, generalized seizures in  epilepsy , but also hypoglycaemia in  diabetes  or increases in intracranial pressure, such as can occur after bleeding in an accident, are known a fall typical.

fainting and memory loss

The memory of those affected is also impaired by the brief shutdown of brain functions. The loss of memory (amnesia) depends on the length of time you have been unconscious. The longer one has been unconscious, the more likely there is a memory lapse, which in extreme cases can extend to several days.

prevent fainting

If you suspect that you will pass out in a few seconds or minutes, you should  sit on the floor if possible.  This can help you avoid injury from falls. You should also put your legs up so that the blood can flow back towards the brain.

fainting help

If you are present while another person is passing out, the best way to help them is to place them in the  recovery position  and check their breathing and pulse. Elevating your feet can also help. An ambulance should be called if the person does not regain consciousness quickly or has an irregular pulse or breathing. In addition, the emergency doctor can also get to the bottom of the cause of the fainting.