What is fainting?
Fainting is a brief loss of consciousness that may cause a person to fall to the ground.
Also known as "passing out" (or the medical term syncope), fainting happens when there is a decrease in blood flow to the brain. When the brain does not have enough blood flow, it cannot do its work and shuts down for a moment, causing the person to fall down.
When the person is lying down, blood pressure to the brain increases and then things usually return to normal. These episodes typically last less than one minute.
There are a number of reasons for loss of consciousness among children. Children can faint when they are in pain, for example, from a broken bone, needle injection (shot) or blood test.
Some children, especially teenage girls, get low blood pressure when they stand up too quickly, causing them to faint or feel dizzy.
Lack of sleep, dehydration from not drinking enough, or low blood sugar caused by not eating for long stretches of time can also increase the chances of fainting.
Other possibilities include emotional stress or anxiety, standing too long in one place, or being in a room with too much heat or not enough ventilation. In rare cases, children can faint if their heart is not pumping blood effectively to the brain, such as when it is beating much too fast or too slow for some reason.
Childhood fainting is most common among older children, especially school age girls.
