What is Syncope/ Fainting?

Professor Peters, in terms of syncope or fainting, a lot of people have this problem, what should they do? Okay, so the first thing to say is that fainting is actually a normal reflex of the human. It's a mechanism whereby under conditions of severe stress or severe pain, the body kind of switches off, you fall to the floor, you recover and the situation has changed. So, it's a normal reflex that has developed since primitive times. But it can be exaggerated in some people, and there are some unfortunate people who have simple faints several times a day, every day. The important thing is, if you are losing consciousness recurrently, on more than one occasion, there are possibly some underlying causes that we should know about. There may be some underlying heart disease, and it's important to rule out trouble in that respect. So you should seek medical attention. And that should be to a standard cardiology department or someone who's got an electrophysiologist around? So most cardiology departments now have specialists like me who are interested in heart rhythm disturbances and some even have the types of arrhythmia doctors are particularly focused on syncope, which is the term we use for collapse of this sort.