Fainting or syncope is a sudden (and generally momentary) loss of consciousness due to a lack of sufficient blood and oxygen reaching the brain. The first symptoms a person feels before fainting are dizziness and feeling hot. Moments later, the person's vision turns black and he or she drops to the floor (or slumps if seated in a chair).
Factors that influence fainting are taking in too little food and fluids, low blood pressure, physical exercise in excess of the energy reserve of the body, and lack of sleep. Even standing up too quickly or being in too hot a room can cause fainting.
Recommended treatment is to allow the person to lie on the ground with his or her legs a little elevated. As the dizziness and the momentary blindness passes, the person may experience visual disturbances in the form of small bright dots. These will also pass within a few minutes. If fainting happens frequently, or if there is no obvious explanation, it is important to see a doctor about it.
More serious causes of fainting include cardiac (heart-related) causes such as an abnormal heart rhythm (an arrhythmia), where the heart beats too slowly, too rapidly or too irregularly to pump enough blood to the brain. This can be life-threatening.
Fainting can also be due to neurological disorders, stress, etc.
When loss of consciousness is temporary and recovers spontaneously it is referred to as fainting or syncope.
Other common non-heart causes of temporary loss of consciousness include fainting after blood is drawn or after certain situational events (situational syncope), such as after urination, defecating, or coughing.
This occurs because of a reflex of the involuntary nervous system (vasovagal reaction) that leads to slowing of the heart rate and dilation of the blood vessels in the legs, thus lowering the blood pressure.
Fainting is a temporary loss of consciousness due to a drop in blood flow to the brain.
When you faint, you not only experience loss of consciousness, but also loss of muscle tone and paling of color in your face.
Fainting may occur while you are urinating, having a bowel movement (especially if straining), coughing very hard, or when you have been standing in one place too long.
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