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You and your friend are sitting in the stands watching a baseball game on a very hot day in July. Suddenly, your friend turns to you and says he doesn’t feel very well. You start to joke about stadium hot dogs and beer, but before you can finish your sentence, your friend’s eyes roll back and he passes out.
The best way to bring a person who has fainted back to consciousness is to lay that person flat or have him sit in a chair with his head lower than his knees. This allows the blood circulation to return to his head.
Even after the person recovers from fainting, don’t let him go about his usual business, and especially don’t let him do something as potentially dangerous as driving a car or operating other machinery. Fainting can often be a sign of a more serious medical problem. Make sure that person sees a medical professional to find the cause of the fainting.
Like our friend at the baseball game, fainting can be a symptom of heat exhaustion or heat strock. Somethimes fainting can result from the sight of something disturbing, like blood. It may also signal the presence of more serious problems like heart disease and blood clots, internal bleeding from a stomach ulcer, or even a brain tumor.
Tater than laugh off a fainting spell, get a physical and make sure you aren’t the victim of a more serious health problem. It only takes a little time, but the benefits can be huge.
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