• Question: What causes us to act faint/dizzy when we have exercised?

    Asked by jess10amy to Alan, Damian, Emma, Liam, Luca on 25 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Liam Bagley

      Liam Bagley answered on 25 Jun 2013:

      This could be a few things, but most likely it is simply blood being pumped to your working muscles and not as much as is needed to your brain. Your brain is essential, without oxygen, it won’t survive.
      You feel really faint and dizzy after really hard and fast exercise because there is suddenly a huge demand for oxygen in your working muscles so essentially your other body parts almost get shut off.
      This is why you should always warm up properly before you do exercise, as well as not injuring your muscles

      I’m certain Damian can add a lot to this!

      Liam

    • Photo: Emma Ross

      Emma Ross answered on 26 Jun 2013:

      Liam’s right, when we exercise our blood is pumped to the muscles that are working hard, lets say in our legs, because they are shouting the loudest to get oxygen and fuel. But if blood flow is directed to the legs, not as much goes to the head. The faint feeling usually gets worse if we stop exercising suddenly. All the blood that was pumping round the muscles in your legs now has a lot of hard work to do to get up to the brain, working against gravity. We call this blood pooling, where the blood has to work hard to get out of the legs and round the rest of the body. Because it doesn’t get to your brain as easily, it leaves you feeling a bit lightheaded.

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