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A '''fainting room''' was a room, used during the [[Victorian era]], where women could go to rest when feeling [[fainting|faint]]. Fainting rooms often included [[fainting couch]]es where women would faint or recline without fearing bodily harm.{{Clarify|date=September 2010}} Such couches or sofas typically had an arm on one side only to permit easy access to a reclining position, although the sofa style most typically featured a back at one end so that the resulting position was not purely [[supine position|supine]]. The main reason that so many women would feel so faint and would require special arrangements was the widespread wearing of corsets by women during this time. The tight corset would restrict the abdominal midsection impeding blood return to the heart from the legs. Additionally, it restricted the lower chest from expanding forcing the wearer to take shallow poorly effective breaths. The combination of poor blood return and difficult breathing would often result in the corset wearer's feeling weak and near fainting and required them to assume a fully or a semi reclining position to be able to recover.
Fainting rooms are a part of Victorian Mythology, as no texts have ever included documentation of such rooms ever existing. They are often confused with napping rooms, which ladies would often retire to and lay on day beds or chaise lounges for a short amount of time. A '''fainting room''' was a room, used during the [[Victorian era]], where women could go to rest when feeling [[fainting|faint]]. Fainting rooms often included [[fainting couch]]es where women would faint or recline without fearing bodily harm.{{Clarify|date=September 2010}} Such couches or sofas typically had an arm on one side only to permit easy access to a reclining position, although the sofa style most typically featured a back at one end so that the resulting position was not purely [[supine position|supine]]. The main reason that so many women would feel so faint and would require special arrangements was the widespread wearing of corsets by women during this time. The tight corset would restrict the abdominal midsection impeding blood return to the heart from the legs. Additionally, it restricted the lower chest from expanding forcing the wearer to take shallow poorly effective breaths. The combination of poor blood return and difficult breathing would often result in the corset wearer's feeling weak and near fainting and required them to assume a fully or a semi reclining position to be able to recover.


==See also==
==See also==
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| publisher = Chicago Tribune
| publisher = Chicago Tribune
}}
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*{{Cite news

| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=eQiKBlvwrHcC&pg=PA16&lpg=PA16&dq=fainting+room+historically+accurate&source=bl&ots=CEaD30vR6a&sig=9MU1y7jNvaL9PnB3Jb3uoWIyEf0&hl=en&ei=wF8ATuytHsn10gGKh5DHDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=fainting%20room%20historically%20accurate&f=false
| title: Old-House Journal
|date Nov-Dec 1990
}}
{{Room}}
{{Room}}



Revision as of 09:15, 21 June 2011

Fainting rooms are a part of Victorian Mythology, as no texts have ever included documentation of such rooms ever existing. They are often confused with napping rooms, which ladies would often retire to and lay on day beds or chaise lounges for a short amount of time. A fainting room was a room, used during the Victorian era, where women could go to rest when feeling faint. Fainting rooms often included fainting couches where women would faint or recline without fearing bodily harm.[clarification needed] Such couches or sofas typically had an arm on one side only to permit easy access to a reclining position, although the sofa style most typically featured a back at one end so that the resulting position was not purely supine. The main reason that so many women would feel so faint and would require special arrangements was the widespread wearing of corsets by women during this time. The tight corset would restrict the abdominal midsection impeding blood return to the heart from the legs. Additionally, it restricted the lower chest from expanding forcing the wearer to take shallow poorly effective breaths. The combination of poor blood return and difficult breathing would often result in the corset wearer's feeling weak and near fainting and required them to assume a fully or a semi reclining position to be able to recover.

See also

References

  • Greene, Bob (1998-12-12). "Let's all retire to the Fainting Room". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2006-08-27.
  • http://books.google.com/books?id=eQiKBlvwrHcC&pg=PA16&lpg=PA16&dq=fainting+room+historically+accurate&source=bl&ots=CEaD30vR6a&sig=9MU1y7jNvaL9PnB3Jb3uoWIyEf0&hl=en&ei=wF8ATuytHsn10gGKh5DHDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=fainting%20room%20historically%20accurate&f=false. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Text "date Nov-Dec 1990" ignored (help); Text "title: Old-House Journal" ignored (help)