Is it really true? Can you
die from sleeplessness?
If you happened to watch the
National
Geographic Channel last month, you might have caught sight of a special on Fatal Familiar Insomnia (FFI)—a deadly
form of insomnia that runs in some families.
Don’t panic. This condition
is extremely rare, so rare that it has just been named and is currently under
study around the world. It is only known to be in 40 families, affecting about
100 people worldwide. What we know about this disease is:
- The disease is
based on a protein abnormality, when a protein called a prion attacks the
thalamus.
- It’s genetically inherited and passed down
through generations.
- The first sign
of FFI is sleeplessness, followed by continued insomnia with hallucinations and
panic attacks, progressing to total insomnia and weight loss, which then
progresses until the victim is so sleep deprived that his or her systems shut
down until death occurs.
- In one
particular case (chronicled on the television program), a man developed the disease in his fifties
after having slept pretty well throughout his life, which is common for this
disease.
- Then his
troubles with sleep snowballed to the point where his body wouldn’t let him
rest. He died within months.
Stories like this remind us
that sleep remains a mystery still
waiting to be fully understood. But the average person doesn’t carry the gene
for FFI and will have a hard time (impossible, really) sleep depriving him or
herself to death. Remember, there only 40 families known in the world that have
FFI - and it is certainly
heartbreaking for those families.
But what this tragic illness shows us is the most severe affect sleep
deprivation can have on the human body
It is true that the research
shows that consistently sleeping fewer than 6 hours a night increases
your risk for a variety of diseases such as colon cancer, breast cancer, heart
disease, obesity,
and diabetes
(and perhaps getting run over by a bus because you can’t focus or pay attention). Lack of sleep can lead to poor health -
but you are not going to be able to intentionally
sleep deprive yourself to death.
According to The Guinness
World Records, Randy Gardner set the record back in 1964 when as a 17-year-old he
went 11 consecutive days (264 hours) without sleep. After staving off sleep for
a few days with cold showers, playing basketball and listening to loud music
(not to mention media reporters and games of pinball), he could no longer focus
his eyes and had to give up TV. His speech slurred, and he fell into a silent
stupor.
But he didn’t die soon
after. And he did sleep more than
usual for a few nights when he finally went to sleep.
We now believe that long
sleepless stints like Randy’s can be dangerous. He appears to have paid back
his sleep debt by getting extra sleep for a few nights. And remember, he was a
teenager.
The moral of the story: You can go for a period of time without quality
sleep, and experience the consequences. And you can recover if you allow your
body to recoup those lost hours again. But regularly and
consistently failing to get the sleep your body needs is just plain
unhealthy, and will have long-term
consequences on the quality of your health and your life.
And please don’t try to make
into the Guinness World Records by breaking Gardner’s record. Guinness doesn’t keep records for
voluntary sleep deprivation anymore – they decided it was too dangerous.
Sweet Dreams,
Michael J. Breus, PhD
The Sleep Doctor™
www.thesleepdoctor.com
http://www.twitter.com/TheSleepDoctor
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