Jessica's Curiosity // Sudden Blackouts

Hello everyone!

      My curiosity has struck another chord, and as I write, my mind is wondering... why is it that sometimes when ever I get out of bed too fast, my eyes suddenly black out, and I have to pause in my movements to let the blackness clear? And why does this happen to my sister Brigid whenever she is just casually walking up our staircases. She has often complained of it, and I too have always been a bit bothered by this seemingly random phenomena. And so now I have to ask the question - Is anyone else bothered by this weird thing, or have you ever wondered why this happens?

       Well I have a theory that might or might not be the answer to this odd question. First of all, I will have to point out the fact that to some, walking upstairs at a normal pace, and pulling oneself out of bed are two completely different movements, except the fact that your body, or more specifically your head, is changing altitude when moving upwards, be it up out of a sleeping position, or walking to a higher elevation. Now, my theory is this: when we have been in a relatively stationary position for quite some time, our blood circulation is slow; if we suddenly hitched into high gear and starting moving at a quick pace, our blood begins to circulate faster in order to keep up with nutritional needs of our working muscles right? Yes! 

      So, lets say Brigi is on the main floor of our house for quite a while, looking at the computer (she is stationary, and her blood circulation is slow)....

...and suddenly she stands up and starts walking up stairs to go do something (muscles are working again, and her blood circulates much faster to keep up)....

.... She is almost to the top and suddenly her eyes see blackness. What happened?

     Well, the time that it took to get her circulation going before heading upstairs wasn’t enough, and so the pressure wasn’t high enough to keep the blood circulating up into her head as she walked up the stairs and changed altitudes. (One more thing I should point out before finishing the answer; our eyes need an enormous, and constant supply of nutrients from our blood to work properly, and so the retina of our eyeball is packed full of thousands of tiny blood vessels to meet the needs of our eyes so we can see all the time.) Because the blood pressure was not high enough to keep the blood flowing properly in Brigi’s head, the blood was drained a little, and the retinas of her eyes did not have enough nutrients for her eyes to see properly, and thus she “blacked out” for a second or two. While she paused, the blood soon righted its pressure, and suddenly the blackness cleared. The same goes for me when ever I pull myself out of bed too fast; my blood circulation doesn’t have enough pressure to fill my head whenever I suddenly sit up. 

      So just remember everyone, take it a little slow after you have been sitting or standing for quite a while in one stationary position, then ease yourself into a quicker pace, and you shouldn’t have any more momentary blackouts!

      Have an awesome day!
Blessings
Jessica Boyer (the eldest singer) 

P.S. Yes, Brigi couldn't help but smile from the awkwardness of the poses I asked her to take for the post. :) We all have those goofy feeling moments!