Face Your Fears: Hemophobia

The average male body contains approximately five litres of blood. The average female body contains approximately three-and-a-half litres of blood. Imagine then, being scared of the sight of blood. Thousands of people across the world are, and can be referred to as hemophobiacs.

Hemophobia is an irrational and persistent fear of blood. The mere sight of claret will often remind sufferers of their own vulnerability and the eventuality that they will in fact one day die.

Symptoms are varied. Some sufferers might experience an increase in blood pressure and heart rate. Conversely, others suffer from a drop in blood pressure and heart rate, faintness and weakness, which can, in turn, lead to a new fear: the fear of fainting.

When you suffer from ophidiophobia, you can ease the problem by not hanging around in snake-infested places. However, people with an uncontrollable fear of blood have much more to worry about: a paper cut, Sweeny Todd, Call of Duty and a good old Shakespearean tragedy all need to be avoided at all costs.

It's usually this point that I suggest some sort of cure, which mostly involves visiting the London Bridge Experience and London Tombs to face your fears. Not this week. If you suffer from hemophobia, the last thing you'd want to do is visit the UK's number one scare attraction. It'd be enough to make your knees go weak.