MAIL ONLINE: Why regularly fainting is a sign that you've got a dicky heartbeat: When Danielle kept fainting she thought she wasn't eating enough... but she actually had a heart rhythm problem

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Fainting isn’t always a worrying sign. As Clifford Garratt, a professor of cardiology at Manchester University, explains. ‘There will be individuals who are susceptible to losing consciousness in certain situations.

‘For instance, when you have blood taken or experience pain, you may have a lowering of blood pressure and you might faint.

‘Standing in a hot hall during school assembly is another situation, and grooms fainting at their weddings. They’ve probably had no breakfast, might be hungover, hot and nervous.’

But fainting in other circumstances, such as during exercise, is not normal, he says, and should be investigated. It can occur if the heart rate is too slow, reducing oxygen to the brain, or too fast, overstimulating the body.

Fainting is a temporary loss of consciousness of up to a couple of minutes (any longer suggests it’s a seizure or concussion). ‘Even in young people it’s not normal to have episodes of loss of consciousness,’ says Professor Garratt. ‘You shouldn’t ignore them.’