I’m not sure if this happens in real life, but in books and movies, especially older ones, you see this all the time: someone (usually a woman) faints, and everybody does their best to revive the person (with “smelling salts”, etc.). Now I’m sure the person needs medical attention, but why is it so important to revive the person? Maybe she needs to be unconscious right now. Won’t she wake up on her own when her body recovers from whatever it is?
Or is it just drama?
Usually it’s the first sign of pregnancy, isn’t it? Funny, I had three kids and never fainted.
In older stories you will find that a lot of fainting is probably caused by heat or a stressful situation in a hot and humid environment. Women often wore horribly binding corsets and ate little to nothing to keep their shape and had no air conditioners or fans or anything to cool the air around them. This caused quite a bit of fainting and is common in period writing set in the south especially.
No, I understand why they’re fainting (pregnancy, corsets, heat, shock, extreme pain and all that), I just want to know why people feel they need to do something. Let her alone! She’ll wake up on her own in a minute, probably.
(I just wonder how many decades went by before somebody said, “You know, I think the ladies are wearing their corsets a little too tight. Maybe they shouldn’t do that…”)
I think people want to rouse a fainter because it’s scary to see someone pass out, and they want to make sure that the person has only fainted, and nothing more serious has happened.
This; plus, if decent citizens don’t stay by a lady’s side until she revives, she might fall into the nefarious designs of a Snidely Whiplash figure, who might try to ravish and/or abduct her…
Sorry for the hijack, but do fainting victims lose control of their bladder or bowels when they faint (assuming they didn’t faint from fear)? My WAG is no, but the two phenomena are entirely different, so what do I know?
Well, think about it! Could you watch a relative pass out and just say to yourself, “Eh, I guess her panties are too tight. Hope she wakes up soon.” and go back to your sandwich without any concern? 
I dunno – what kind of sandwich is it?
Depends on which relative you’re talking about. My mom, no. My mom-in-law . . . probably.
Although I really don’t want to know too much about their panties. :eek:
As for the bowels, you’ve learned to not poop on yourself in your sleep I hope.
Used to be. Now you know people are pregnant because they throw up.
It’s better than coughing, though - instant death sentence, there.
A “vasovagal syncope” can be caused by unpleasant stimuli like seeing something shocking or gory or disturbing. It can also be caused by standing up too fast or squeezing somebody too hard for too long, or by sudden arousal. I’d say that if you wrapped a dainty, Victorian-era lady in a tight corset and showed her a still from a porno, you’d get her all fainty in a heartbeat!
I fainted from heat a few years ago, and it was messy & embarrassing. (The things you’ll tell people on the internets!) I’ve talked to other people who didn’t have that happen, but I’d been sick from illness a few days before the heat got to me, so I think it just depends on circumstances.
I’m guessing the people who were around me trying to wake me up were doing so because they had no idea what was going on or why I fell over… I made it into a small restaurant before I collapsed. When I woke up, they were on the phone with 911 already, and since I’d hit my head hard on the wood floor when I fell, I went to the emergency room. After a little time on an IV for fluids I was just fine, fortunately! 
I learned to not underestimate the sun, especially after being sick!
This. Seeing anyone suddenly collapse is a adrenaline-inducing panic. Seeing someone you care about crumple to the floor like their strings have been cut will cause you to leap for the nearest bucket of water or vial of vinegar.
My fainting story is similar. I had an early morning emergency procedures training for work, and I hadn’t eaten breakfast before I’d gone. If I’d have driven to work, I’d probably have been fine, but since I took the bus, I walked a lot, which meant that I sweated and strained myself on an empty stomach. It didn’t help that the guy doing the training had us all standing in the lobby while he lectured at us (I’ve never had to stand for a training session since, oddly enough). I think locking my knees while standing had a lot to do with how woozy I started feeling.
When I passed out, they most certainly would have wanted me awake, since I hit my head on the floor and they wanted to make sure I didn’t have a concussion. They didn’t need to help me, though–I was awake as soon as I hit the floor.
I would suspect that’s the case for a lot of fainters, though–folks would want to make sure they didn’t have a concussion or other head injury.