Eli5: In movies people instruct bleeding out characters to stay with them and to keep their eyes open. Does falling asleep/ blacking out actually accelerate the process of dying or is that just a movie cliche?

Question

Eli5: In movies people instruct bleeding out characters to stay with them and to keep their eyes open. Does falling asleep/ blacking out actually accelerate the process of dying or is that just a movie cliche?

In: Biology

Answer 1

Unconsciousness doesn’t accelerate the process of dying, it’s just more helpful if people stay conscious so they can answer questions that first responders might have for them or just generally help people trying to help them. The way movies do it is almost always for dramatic effect.