the.com/faint
the dramatic body's emergency exit from problems too overwhelming to consciously endure
means To lose consciousness briefly, usually from a drop in blood flow to the brain — or, as an adjective, to be faded, weak, or barely perceptible.
from From Old French 'faint' or 'feint,' the past participle of 'feindre,' to feign or shirk — itself from Latin 'fingere,' to shape or pretend (the same root that gives us 'fiction' and 'feign'). The original sense leaned toward 'cowardly' or 'sluggish' — someone who shrank from effort — which is why a 'faint heart' still means a timid one. From that weakness of spirit the word slid toward weakness of body, until by degrees it came to mean the body simply switching itself off.
- blood logic
- Brain briefly loses blood pressure, hits the off switch
- horizontal cure
- Falling down actually restores blood flow upward fast
- Victorian epidemic
- Tight corsets crushed lungs into theatrical collapses
- goat version
- Fainting goats stiffen and topple when startled
- emotional trigger
- Bad news alone can drop blood pressure cold
vasovagal syncope — causes 50% of all fainting episodes, sudden blood pressure drop triggers loss of consciousness
orthostatic hypotension — fainting when standing up quickly, documented in studies of astronauts returning from space
breath-holding spell — infants and toddlers faint from holding breath during tantrums, peaks between ages 6-18 months