Fainting First Aid: What to Do, and When Fainting Is a Warning Sign

Fainting is common, usually brief, and almost always frightening to watch. The difficulty is that a simple faint and the first minute of a cardiac arrest can look very similar from a few metres away — someone has gone down and is not answering.

What separates them is one question, and it is the question this whole guide turns on: are they breathing normally?

Why people faint

Fainting happens when blood flow to the brain drops, briefly. The brain shuts down non-essential function for a few seconds, you fall over, and lying flat restores the blood flow — which is why the recovery is usually so quick.

Common causes include:

• Standing still for a long time, especially in heat — the classic assembly, queue or church faint
• Standing up too quickly
• Dehydration
• Low blood pressure
• Low blood sugar
• Severe pain, or the sight of blood or needles
• Anxiety or emotional shock
• Straining — coughing hard, vomiting, or on the toilet
• Heart conditions — the group that matters most, and the reason unexplained fainting needs looking into

The everyday sort, triggered by heat, standing, pain or distress, is often called a vasovagal faint. It is the most common kind by a wide margin.

The warning signs before a faint

Most faints announce themselves for a few seconds first. Recognising this is genuinely useful, because getting to the floor deliberately is much safer than falling onto it. The signs are:

• Sudden sweating
• Weakness in the legs
• Dizziness or light-headedness
• Changes in vision — tunnelling, greying out, spots
• Nausea
• Pale skin — often the first thing someone else notices
• A sense of anxiety or that something is wrong

If you feel faint yourself

1. Lie down straight away and raise your legs higher than your head. Stay there for 10 minutes, or until the feeling passes.
2. If you truly cannot lie down, sit and put your head between your knees.
3. Get fresh air and loosen tight clothing.
4. Drink some water once you feel steadier.
5. Get up slowly — sit first, wait, then stand.

Do not try to walk it off or push through to finish what you were doing. That is how a manageable faint becomes a head injury.

What to do when someone faints

1. Check for danger, then check for a response — talk to them, squeeze their shoulders. Follow DRSABCD.
2. If they do not respond, send for help and call 000.
3. Check their airway and look, listen and feel for normal breathing for up to 10 seconds.
4. Not breathing normally? Start CPR immediately and send someone for an AED. Occasional gasping is not normal breathing — treat it as a cardiac arrest.
5. Breathing normally but still unresponsive? Roll them into the recovery position to protect their airway, and stay with them until the ambulance arrives.
6. Come round already? Keep them lying on their back with their legs raised higher than their head. Loosen tight clothing, give them air, and do not let them stand up quickly.
7. Look for injuries from the fall — particularly a knock to the head.
8. Check for a medical ID or a wallet card. Diabetes, epilepsy and heart conditions all change what should happen next.

When fainting is a warning sign

Most faints need nothing more than a floor and a few minutes. Call 000 if the fainting came with, or involved, any of the following:

• No warning signs at all — they simply dropped
• It happened while they were sitting or lying down
• Chest pain — see heart attack warning signs
• An irregular or racing heartbeat
• A severe headache
• Vision changes that do not clear
• Severe bleeding, or a serious injury from the fall
• A known heart condition
• They are over 60
• They do not come round quickly, or they are confused afterwards for more than a moment
• Shaking or jerking that looks like a seizure
• They are pregnant

See a doctor even if it seemed minor

Book an appointment if someone has fainted without a clear cause, or has fainted more than once recently. Repeated unexplained fainting deserves an explanation, and sometimes the explanation is a heart rhythm problem that is entirely treatable once it is found.

Fainting, or something else?

A few things get mistaken for a simple faint, and each needs a different response.

• Cardiac arrest. They are unresponsive and not breathing normally, or only gasping occasionally. This is the one that matters. Start CPR.
• A seizure. There may be stiffening, jerking, or a period of confusion afterwards. Protect their head, do not restrain them, and see seizure first aid. Note that a faint can also cause brief jerking, which makes the two hard to separate — if in doubt, call 000.
• Low blood sugar. More common in people with diabetes; they may be sweaty, shaky, confused or aggressive. If they are conscious and can swallow safely, something sugary helps.
• Heat illness. If they have been in the heat, check whether they are hot and confused rather than pale and clammy — see heatstroke and heat exhaustion.
• Anaphylaxis. Collapse with swelling, a rash or breathing difficulty needs adrenaline, not a glass of water — see anaphylaxis first aid.
• Stroke. Check the face, arms and speech. Any facial droop, arm weakness or slurred speech means 000 immediately.

Related reading: what to say when you call an ambulance and how to set up your emergency contacts. If you have fainted before, or have a condition that would explain why, you can create your emergency profile in a few minutes.

Fainting FAQs

Sources

• healthdirect — Fainting — causes, the pre-faint warning signs, lying down with legs raised, the DRSABCD response, and the red flags requiring an ambulance.
• ANZCOR Guideline 4 — Airway — airway management and positioning in an unresponsive person.
• Better Health Channel — Fainting — background and when to seek follow-up.
• Triple Zero (000) — when and how to call.

Disclaimer: This article is general first aid information, not medical advice or a substitute for accredited first aid training. In an emergency, always call Triple Zero (000). For non-urgent health advice, call healthdirect on 1800 022 222 (NURSE-ON-CALL 1300 60 60 24 in Victoria, 13 HEALTH 13 43 25 84 in Queensland) or speak with your GP. Repeated or unexplained fainting should always be assessed by a doctor. MedibandPlus stores and provides access to a member’s own medical information; it does not assess, diagnose or treat any condition.

More first aid guides

• The recovery position, step by step
• DRSABCD: the first aid action plan explained
• How to do CPR: a beginner’s guide
• Heart attack warning signs and first aid
• Heatstroke and heat exhaustion
• Choking first aid for adults, children and babies
• Seizure first aid