Lethargic sleep (or simply lethargy) is a phenomenon that remains a mystery to science. It is believed that this is a painful condition in which vital processes slow down, but the body maintains vital functions and does not face death. However, why a person falls into this state is still unknown to scientists. It is believed that lethargic sleep is the body’s reaction to severe stress, fear or overwork. On the other hand, there is more than enough stress in our lives, but we don’t see people falling asleep.
Article on the topic Flight 7841. “Minsk - Leningrad”. The story of a 1985 plane crash survivor
Flow forms
Lethargy is a disease that is more common in females. In this state, a person becomes motionless, vital functions of the body slow down, body temperature drops by several degrees, pulse and breathing are barely noticeable. There are mild and severe forms.
- Mild form of pathology. The patient is no different from a sleeping person: even breathing, measured, clear heartbeat. It's almost impossible to wake him up.
- Severe form. The condition can easily be confused with death: the sleeping person’s skin becomes pale, the body becomes cold, the pupils do not react to light, the pulse slows down to several beats per minute, breathing cannot be felt even with the help of a mirror.
The presence of life can only be determined using medical indicators: ECG and blood tests.
What are the causes of lethargic sleep?
There is still disagreement among experts about the true causes of this condition, as well as how long pathological sleep lasts. Some doctors see the disease as one of the sleep pathologies, others find the cause in metabolic disorders.
The most common and most rational causes of lethargy are:
- frequent stressful situations or one, but very severe stress;
- the appearance of mental disorders, a tendency to hysteria;
- suffered accidents, significant injuries or bruises to the head, concussions;
- schizophrenia.
Over time, a person who has fallen into lethargy loses weight, biological development and body secretions completely stop
In rare cases, a person may fall into a lethargic sleep:
- with severe physical or emotional exhaustion;
- in case of severe poisoning;
- with significant bleeding;
- after hypnotic influence.
There are cases where the abuse of strong medications, such as Interferon, provoked deep sleep. It has also been noted that stopping the drug can bring a person out of a lethargic state.
People who have experienced such a mysterious condition claim that shortly before falling asleep, they began to have severe headaches, their whole body was overcome by an overwhelming feeling of fatigue, and their muscles became sluggish. One of the latest hypotheses among scientists is the viral etiology of the disease.
Well-known doctors of medical sciences Andrew Church and Russell Daly, after much research and studying the stories of more than 20 “asleep” patients, found that most of them had a sore throat shortly before falling asleep. Later, scientists discovered a strange virus (streptococcus bacteria) in them.
The research results obtained gave rise to the hypothesis that the bacteria that cause sore throats have mutated and, bypassing the immune system, provoked inflammation of parts of the brain. As a result, the cells of the nervous system are destroyed and fall into a state of restless sleep.
Galina Gulyaeva
In 2015, an ambulance in Arkhangelsk received a curious call. A woman called, she wanted to call the doctor of her mother, who was 92 years old. Upon arrival, the doctors stated that his vital functions had stopped. While my daughter was calling her friends, employees from two funeral homes came to her home. Their argument about who would organize the funeral was so loud that Galina Gulyaeva suddenly regained consciousness. This “resurrection” surprised everyone, especially the doctors, who once again conducted an examination and found that everything was fine with my grandmother’s health. Doctors simply could not establish lethargic sleep.
Found a violation? Report content
Features of the pathological condition
Symptoms of apparent death are:
- complete immobility throughout the entire illness;
- lack of reflexes and reactions to external stimuli;
- slowing down life processes.
Often, brain activity remains at the same level, consciousness is clear, the patient hears those around him, perceives their words and even remembers certain events, but a feeling of severe weakness prevents him from reacting. The condition is easily confused with diseases such as encephalitis and narcolepsy.
In a mild form of lethargic sleep, the body is relaxed, there is twitching of the eyelids and rolling of the eyes. At the same time, the ability to chew and swallow is preserved. Feeding the sleeping person can be done independently or with the help of a medical tube.
Severe cases are rare. The person outwardly resembles a dead person, the body does not visually show the slightest signs of life, there is no reaction to pain (including very severe). The sleeping person cannot feed himself, the discharge (urine, feces) stops, and the person “dries out” before our eyes.
Got old in my sleep
A unique case of lethargy was described by Academician Pavlov. It was about a man who, at the age of 35, fell into a coma and lay there for twenty years. Moreover, he did not become a “living corpse” immediately and during 1896-1898. reacted to certain stimuli from the outside world. Then came the years of oblivion, and only in 1918, already an elderly man, Ivan Kuzmich Kachalkin opened his eyes again.
It turned out that all that time he could hear and perceive reality, but was deprived of the ability to speak and move. The patient recounted the conversations of the nurses, doctors and visitors who came to see him, and his memory did not mix up the events, but gave them out in the correct sequence. Unfortunately, the man’s body could not withstand the test of lethargy, and a week after waking up he suffered a heart attack. Death came instantly.
Diagnostics
Being buried alive is one of man's worst fears. In order to exclude such an outcome, modern medicine provides a number of studies:
- Electrophysiological examination of the brain and heart makes it possible to determine the functioning of these organs. Even with the most severe form of lethargy, their weak functioning can be recorded.
- Examination of the patient for the presence of cadaveric spots and rigor.
- Chemical blood test.
- An incision to check blood circulation.
The above diagnostic methods are distinguished by obtaining accurate, reliable results.
Treatment
Treatment is not applied to a person who has fallen into deep sleep. He is not transferred to a hospital and is not treated with medication. In this condition, the patient needs a calm home environment and unobtrusive attention from loved ones and relatives. According to people who fell into lethargic sleep, it is known that most of them heard those around them, but could not react.
Lethargic sleep is a condition that does not require drug treatment
Lethargy is an unusual, little-studied condition, in which the main thing is proper care for the “sleeping” person. Consultation with an experienced professional will be required to determine proper care. Based on a thorough diagnosis, he will establish the main rules:
- temperature regime;
- lighting;
- environment;
- basic hygiene procedures;
- method and frequency of feeding;
- drinking regime.
Nadezhda Lebedina
One fine summer day in 1954, in the psychiatric clinic of the Dnepropetrovsk Medical Institute, nothing foreshadowed the arrival of an interesting patient. However, on this day a truly unusual patient was brought here. She was assisted by Nadezhda Lebedina. As it became clear from the information received, she went to bed the night before, but did not wake up in the morning, despite all the attempts of her loved ones to wake her up. At the same time, breathing and pulse were completely normal.
Semyon Treskunov told who he really considers his mother
Depression: How Vitamin D Products Affect Our Emotional State
To improve memory and more: it is best to drink lemongrass tea in the morning
Her husband said they had a big fight the night before, not for the first time. Nadezhda cried a little and then fell asleep. However, in all other respects this day was quite ordinary.
Doctors, having studied this case, were at a loss. Of all the pathological changes in the body, the only thing that was noticed was that the body temperature dropped slightly and the pulse became slower. In an attempt to do something, the doctors installed a feeding tube and simply left the woman in the hospital for further observation. And for greater credibility, the medical record added that she was suffering from a mental disorder.
Complications
Prolonged immobility of a person has a detrimental effect on the body as a whole. The longer the patient remains in this condition, the higher the likelihood that he will return as a severely disabled person. The most common complications of restless sleep:
- necrosis of certain areas of soft tissue;
- atrophy of blood vessels;
- septic damage (rotting) of the kidneys and bronchi.
With imaginary death, the aging of the body slows down, but as soon as a person wakes up, the process begins to accelerate until it reaches the desired state. Why this happens is still not known.
Taphophobia
A phobia is a pronounced obsessive fear that cannot be “pacified” by any logical arguments. Accordingly, taphophobia is a person’s fear that she will be considered dead and buried alive, that she will wake up in a coffin and will not be able to get out of it.
George Washington, the first popularly elected president of the United States of America, repeatedly asked his family members to bury him no sooner than two days later in the event of his death. To make sure he doesn't wake up.
And the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer needed five whole days of the so-called respite. As a result, it was not easy for those who came to say goodbye to him, since the smell of a corpse prevented such an outstanding personality from being sent on his last journey.
The poetess of the Silver Age, Tsvetaeva, and the British writer Wilkie Collins also suffered from similar fears. But its form of manifestation was too intrusive.
Because before going to bed, every time he left a note near the bed with a request, if he did not show signs of life for a long time, he would certainly make sure that his body was no longer functioning.
Lethargic sleep or coma?
Both conditions require proper supervision by experienced professionals.
Coma clinic
The causes of coma are: all kinds of bruises and head injuries, serious illnesses, complications during operations. Life support during coma: breathing exclusively with the help of medical devices, maintaining life only with the help of special drugs. Exit from the state: accompanied by a long period of rehabilitation, quite often the coma ends in death.
It is important to differentiate the state of lethargic sleep from coma
Clinical indicators of lethargic sleep
Cause of the disease: stress, severe dehydration, intoxication with antiviral drugs, chronic fatigue syndrome, exposure to mutating viruses. Life support: the patient breathes on his own; only in very rare cases is connection to a machine required.
Awakening: independently, without medical intervention. The patient is able to return to normal life without significant harm to the body. A lethargic state is less dangerous to human life than a coma.
Prevention
There is no single effective method for preventing and treating this mysterious disease. To avoid lethargic attacks, scientists, based on research and experience of previous generations, recommend adhering to the following rules.
In summer, in hot or humid weather, avoid prolonged exposure to the sun. Drink enough regular (preferably boiled) water daily for the body. Do not abuse sweets containing starch.
It is important to include dishes with a lot of plant fiber in your diet. Avoid frequent stress, sleep 6-8 hours a day. You should take strong medications with caution, and never drink alcohol at the same time.
Cases of lethargic sleep
The patient may “fall asleep” for a day or several days, and sometimes his sleep can drag on for years. So, in one of the cities of England, the priest woke up only on Sundays to eat and conduct services in the church. From past centuries, interesting facts have been known when those who fell into a state of imaginary death were so similar to the dead that they were miraculously not buried.
An incident from the life of a poet
The Italian poet of the Renaissance, Francesco Petrarca, remained in a sleepless state for about a day. When he woke up, he discovered active preparations for his burial. He felt cheerful and full of energy, which surprised those present even more. The poet lived another 30 years and was awarded a laurel wreath in 1341 as an outstanding writer of that time.
Dangerous quarrel
One of the longest and officially confirmed cases is considered to be the unremitting condition of Dnepropetrovsk resident Nadezhda Lebedina. In 1954, after a quarrel with her husband, she fell into a deep sleep that lasted 20 years. She was awakened by terrible news - the death of her mother, which she heard about while in a state of lethargy. Lebedina lived for more than 20 years and was included in the Guinness Book of Records.
A dream of 22 years
In 1919, difficult childbirth and depression provoked a deep sleep of a resident of one of the cities of Norway. The state of imaginary death dragged on for Augustine Linggard for as long as 22 years. The functions of her body slowed down so much that the girl did not change at all throughout the entire time. When she woke up in 1941, she looked no worse than her adult daughter. But the Norwegian's youth did not last long. A year later, she aged to her real age.
Where are my toys
A lethargic state slows down not only physiological processes, but also intellectual development. After falling asleep at the age of 6, a girl from Buenos Aires slept for 19 years. When she woke up, the first thing she wanted was to play with her favorite dolls.
It is impossible to predict the duration of lethargic sleep for a particular person.
Maternal instinct
This nerve-wracking story happened in 1865 in Wisconsin (USA). Trouble came to the family of a local farmer - his 5-year-old son fell ill with cholera. The doctor's predictions were disappointing, and three days later the little boy died. Grief-stricken parents buried Max Hoffmann in the village cemetery according to all the traditions of that time.
That same night, the mother had a strange dream, as if her child was alive. A picture clearly emerged before his eyes - the boy turned over on his side in the coffin and put his hands under his right cheek. Waking up from a scream, the woman told her vision to her husband and began to ask her to dig up the grave. He began to reassure his wife, deciding that due to nervousness, she simply saw hallucinations, and all this was nothing more than the result of overexertion.
However, the next night the nightmare repeated itself, and here it was not possible to call the agitated woman to the voice of reason. Together with his eldest son and neighbor, the farmer came to the cemetery and began the exhumation. When the coffin was brought to the surface and opened, it turned out that Max was indeed lying on his side, supporting his cheek with one hand. At the same time, the child looked as if he were dead.
The stunned parents called the doctor, the same one who pronounced the boy dead three days earlier. At first incredulous, and then zealously trying to revive the child, he finally received a reward for his efforts - the baby’s eyelid twitched, and then both eyes opened. Gradually, the body began to show signs of life, and a week later Max fully recovered from the fantastic “adventure” that happened to him. How happily he lived his 80s is unknown, but among the mementos kept in the family “archive” were two metal handles from the coffin - the same one from which he managed to escape thanks to his mother’s dream.
The most important
Until now, many scientists do not believe in the existence of lethargy and consider this condition to be a consequence of severe fatigue and moral exhaustion of the body, various kinds of troubles and stress. They are confident that good rest and quality sleep can cure a person of illness.
Whether it will be possible to unravel the mystery of this condition - time will tell. Perhaps very soon scientists will answer the question of many about what lies in the state of lethargic sleep and will find an effective treatment for the mysterious disease.
Nikolay Gogol
But Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol was considered the most famous taphophobe. He was terrified of being buried alive. Because more than once he had dreams in which he watched himself being buried, and then he came to his senses, tried to get out of the grave, but, in the end, suffocated.
Boris Yablonsky, Gogol's friend, even advised him to take sedatives. Considering these ideas only nonsense against the background of stress and depression.
But this fear was not groundless; it turns out that one day, while traveling in Italy, he fell ill with malaria, which developed into malarial encephalitis. The main symptoms of which are very similar to lethargy.
After the seizures, he fell into a deep sleep. During which, low blood pressure, breathing problems, slow blood circulation, etc. were observed.
By the way, when the writer’s grave was opened for burial in another place, they found the body in a completely unnatural position with its head turned to the side. And one might assume that Nicholas’s terrible dreams turned out to be prophetic.
But scientists have put forward a theory that changes in body position were a consequence of uneven rotting of the coffin boards.
