If people really fainted all the time from hearing bad news, wouldn’t there be an epidemic of deaths from bashing their brains out on the floor? Surely not everyone’s so lucky as to have someone catch them as they fall.
Sam, how often do people fall? And how often do people break a bone upon falling? Even without being able to catch yourself, a fall at the same height is relatively unlikely to cause anything worse than scratches; even torn clothing is relatively unusual.
Note also that fainting is not ON/off, usually there is a short amount of “oh… I…” where the person vaguely tries to grab onto something or someone before going boom.
Yeah, but people can position their arms to block the fall to some extent. What if you do faint dead away, your head hurtling to the ground? Admittedly though, I don’t have any personal experience with fainting people.
People don’t just fall over. Fainting takes a few seconds and you’re more likely to crumple to the floor than just topple over and bash your head. And you’re likely to be near enough to someone who can probably catch you.
But yes, people do sometimes injure themselves from passing out. (Most commonly when they’re drunk.)
Older folks are more likely to get hurt, too. Broken hips, etc. Though I think the fainting there is more likely to be health related.