system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: What do doctors ask you to count backwards from 10 when administering anaesthetic?

Be it kid or adults, via injection or gas mask. 

Edit: Why*
gpt
Just as another way of seeing when you're unconscious. They don't always ask to count backwards: they may ask you to recite the alphabet, or anything else that would involve you talking uninterrupted. It's not necessary, but for as long as you are still communicating to them, you are obviously still conscious.