Lethargic sleep (lethargy, imaginary death) is a rare sleep disorder that manifests itself in a state resembling “deep sleep.” In a state of this type of sleep, a person is completely motionless, he has no reaction to external stimuli and all his life processes slow down, in fact the person resembles a “lifeless body.” Lethargic sleep can last from a couple of hours to several years. There is even a known case in which a person slept for decades. However, it is worth noting that lethargic sleep in itself is an extremely rare disease, and its manifestation over many years is even more rare.
REASONS FOR LETHRAGIC SLEEP
To date, it has not been possible to establish the exact causes of the development of lethargic sleep.
It is not uncommon for a person to experience lethargic sleep after experiencing severe stress. Lethargic sleep often occurs in people who are more susceptible to stress and have a tendency to hysterics. Most often, this type of dream occurs in hysterical women.
The causes of lethargic sleep also include:
- sleeping sickness;
- stress, hysteria, physical exhaustion;
- hypnosis;
- head injuries;
- brain diseases;
SYMPTOMS AND COURSE OF LETARGIC SLEEP
The symptoms of this disorder are not varied. Before falling into lethargic sleep, people experience a slowdown in metabolic processes, breathing slows down so that it is not visible at a glance, and a lack of response to pain and other external stimuli.
While a person is in lethargic sleep, he is not an old woman, but upon awakening, he quickly catches up with all his biological years.
People who are in a lethargic sleep under certain circumstances perceive the events happening around them, but cannot react to them. This condition should be distinguished from encephalitis.
With a mild form of lethargy, the patient looks like a person sleeping in a deep sleep. His breathing is easy, his muscles are relaxed, his temperature is slightly lower, but he still has swallowing and chewing functions.
In severe cases, a person’s temperature drops significantly, a person can go without food for several days, urine and feces stop, muscle hypotension sets in, blood pressure drops, the pulse is hard to feel, the skin turns pale, there is no reaction to painful stimuli, the pupils’ reaction to light disappears, dehydration and other signs occur.
If feeding the patient using conventional methods is not possible, then a special probe is used.
Due to prolonged sleep, a person waking up receives a whole bunch of various negative consequences caused by prolonged immobility.
TREATMENT OF LETARGIC SLEEP
Lethargic sleep does not require immediate hospitalization of the patient. The patient must be kept under constant supervision in order to ensure all living conditions. It is extremely important to provide the patient with proper nutrition and the amount of fluid consumed, isolate him from extraneous irritating noises, change bed linen, maintain a comfortable temperature, warm him up in cold weather, and avoid overheating the patient in hot weather. Fortified food should be given to the patient in liquid form. Also, do not forget about hygienic care for the patient.
BURIATION ALIVE
In lethargic sleep, a person is immobilized, does not respond to stimuli, it is almost impossible to feel the pulse, breathing slows down and even the heartbeat is almost not noticeable.
People who lived in ancient times had a fear of being buried alive. In Germany in the 18th century, the Duke of Mecklenburg on his estates even introduced a ban on burying a person less than three days after death. It wasn't long before this rule spread beyond the domain of one duke and began to spread across the continent.
Over time, or rather already in the 19th century, special coffins began to appear, which were designed so that a person could survive in them for some time and send a signal through a special tube that came out of the coffin to the surface that he was alive. Also, for some time after the funeral, priests visited the graves. Their duties included sniffing the tube that came out of the coffin, and if he did not smell the smell of cadaveric decomposition, then the grave was opened to make sure whether the person had really died.
Also, sometimes a bell was attached to the tubes in the coffins, so that the person who woke up in the coffin could give a signal by ringing them.
Evidence of this is the excavation of graves where the dead lay in the coffin in unnatural positions, as if resisting something. During lethargic sleep, it is difficult, and sometimes impossible, to determine and say with certainty whether a person is alive or has passed on to another world, because the boundaries separating life from death are vague and uncertain.
However, there were cases when it was possible to escape from grave captivity. For example, the case of an artillery officer who was thrown by a horse and broke his head in the fall. The wound seemed to be harmless, they bled him, they took measures to bring him to his senses, but all the efforts of the doctors were in vain, the man died, or rather, he was mistaken for dead. The weather was hot, so it was decided to hurry up with the funeral and not wait three days.
Two days after the funeral, many relatives of the deceased came to the cemetery. One of them screamed in horror when he saw that the ground on which he had just been sitting had “moved.” This was the grave of an officer. Without hesitation, those who came took up shovels and dug up a shallow grave, somehow covered with earth. The “dead man” was not lying, but half-sitting in the coffin, the lid was torn off and slightly raised. After the “second birth,” the officer was taken to the hospital, where he said that, having regained consciousness, he heard the footsteps of people overhead. Thanks to the gravediggers, who carelessly filled the grave, air entered through the loose soil, which made it possible for the officer to receive some oxygen.
People can remain in a state of lethargy without interruption for many days, weeks, months, and sometimes even years, in exceptional cases - decades. Dr. Rosenthal in Vienna published a case of trance in a hysterical woman who was pronounced dead by her doctor. Her skin was pale and cold, her pupils were constricted and insensitive to light, her pulse was imperceptible, her limbs were relaxed. Melted sealing wax was dripped onto her skin and they could not notice the slightest reflected movements. A mirror was brought to the mouth, but no trace of moisture could be seen on its surface.
Not the slightest breathing noise was heard, but in the region of the heart, auscultation revealed a barely noticeable intermittent sound. The woman had been in a similar, apparently lifeless state for 36 hours. When examining intermittent current, Rosenthal found that the muscles of the face and limbs contracted. The woman came to her senses after 12 hours of faradization. Two years later, she was alive and well and told Rosenthal that at the beginning of the attack she was unaware of anything, and then heard talk about her death, but could not help herself.
An example of longer lethargic sleep is given by the famous Russian physiologist V.V. Efimov. He said that one French 4-year-old girl with a diseased nervous system was frightened by something and fainted, and then fell into a lethargic sleep that lasted 18 years without a break. She was admitted to the hospital, where she was carefully looked after and nourished, thanks to which she grew into an adult girl. And even though she woke up as an adult, her mind, interests, feelings remained the same as they were before lethargy. So, waking up from a lethargic sleep, the girl asked for a doll to play with.
Academician I. P. Pavlov knew that sleep was even longer. The man lay in the clinic as a “living corpse” for 25 years. He did not make a single movement, did not utter a single word from the age of 35 until the age of 60, when he gradually began to show normal motor activity, began to stand up, speak, etc. They began to ask the old man what he felt during this period. these long years while he lay as a “living corpse.” As they found out, he heard a lot, understood, but could not move or speak. Pavlov explained this case by congestive pathological inhibition of the motor cortex of the cerebral hemispheres. In old age, when the inhibitory processes weakened, cortical inhibition began to decrease and the old man woke up.
In America in 1996, after a 17-year sleep, Greta Stargle from Denver, Colorado regained consciousness. “An innocent child in the body of a luxurious woman” is what doctors call Greta. The fact is that, as journalists reported, in 1979, 3-year-old Greta was in a car accident. Grandparents died, and Greta fell asleep for... 17 years. “Miss Stargle’s brain turned out to be absolutely undamaged,” noted Swiss neurosurgeon Hans Jenkins, who flew to America to meet the patient who had recently regained consciousness. “The 20-year-old beauty looks like an adult, but has retained the intelligence and innocence of a 3-year-old child.” Greta is smart and learns quite quickly. However, she has absolutely no knowledge of life. “We recently went to the supermarket together,” says Greta’s mother Doris. “I walked away literally for a minute, and when I returned, Greta was already heading towards the exit with some guy. It turned out that he invited her to go to his house and have a lot of fun, and Greta readily agreed. She couldn’t even imagine what exactly was meant.” Having passed the test, Greta is studying at school today. Her teachers assure that the girl gets along well with the kids in her class. The future will tell how the life of the former sleeping beauty will turn out...
During lethargic sleep, not only voluntary movements, but also simple reflexes are so suppressed, the physiological functions of the respiratory and circulatory organs are so inhibited that a person with little knowledge of medicine may mistake the sleeping person for the dead. This is probably where the belief in the existence of vampires and ghouls originates - people who died a “fake death”, leaving graves and crypts at night to maintain their half-living, half-dead existence with the blood of living people.
Until the 18th century, plague epidemics periodically swept through medieval Europe. The worst was the Black Death of the 14th century, which killed almost a quarter of Europe's population. The merciless disease decimated everyone indiscriminately. Every day, carts loaded to the brim with bodies carried the terrible cargo out of the city to the grave pits. The doors of houses where the infection had settled were marked with red crosses. People abandoned their relatives to the mercy of fate for fear of infection and left cities in the grip of death. The plague was considered a disaster worse than war. The fear of being buried alive was especially great from the 18th to the early 19th centuries. There are many known cases of premature burials. The degree of their reliability varies.
1865 - 5-year-old Max Hoffman, whose family had a farm near a small town in Wisconsin (America), fell ill with cholera. An urgently called doctor could not reassure the parents: in his opinion, there was no hope for recovery. Three days later it was all over. The same doctor, covering Max's body with a sheet, declared him dead. The boy was buried in the village cemetery. The next night, the mother had a terrible dream. She dreamed that Max was turning over in his grave and seemed to be trying to get out of there. She saw him fold his hands and put them under his right cheek. The mother woke up from her heartbreaking scream. She began to beg her husband to dig up the coffin with the child, but he refused. Mr. Hoffman was convinced that her sleep was the result of a nervous shock and that removing the body from the grave would only increase her suffering. But the next night the dream repeated itself, and this time it was impossible to convince the worried mother.
Hoffmann sent his eldest son to fetch a neighbor and a lantern, because their own lantern was broken. At two o'clock in the morning the men began the exhumation. They worked by the light of a lantern hanging on a nearby tree. When they finally got to the coffin and opened it, they saw that Max was lying on his right side, as his mother had dreamed, with his hands folded under his right cheek. The child showed no signs of life, but the father took the body out of the coffin and rode on horseback to the doctor. With great disbelief, the doctor set to work, trying to revive the boy he had declared dead two days before. More than an hour later, his efforts were rewarded: the baby’s eyelid twitched. They used brandy, and placed bags of heated salt under the body and arms. Little by little, signs of improvement began to appear. Within a week, Max had fully recovered from his fantastic adventure. He lived to the age of 80 and died in Clinton, Iowa. Among his most memorable things were two small metal handles from the coffin from which he was rescued thanks to his mother's dream.
As is known, lethargic sleep of natural, and not traumatic or other origin, usually develops in hysterical patients. In some cases, healthy people who are not at all hysterical, using special psychotechniques, can induce similar states in themselves. For example, Hindu yogis, using the techniques of self-hypnosis and breath-holding known to them, can voluntarily bring themselves into a state of deepest and longest sleep, similar to lethargy or catalepsy.
1968 - Englishwoman Emma Smith set a world record for the longest duration of burial alive: she spent 101 days in a coffin! True... not in a lethargic sleep and without the use of any psychotechnics, she simply lay in a buried coffin, fully conscious. At the same time, air, water and food were supplied to the coffin. Emma even had the opportunity to talk with those who were on the surface using a telephone installed in the coffin...
Society these days is accustomed to treating myths, legends, and tales as fiction. People are accustomed to judging ancient Civilizations as underdeveloped and primitive. But some material finds in the mines allow us to conclude that representatives of the ancient Civilization, possessing parapsychological abilities, went into the caves of the Himalayas and entered the state of Somati (when the Soul, having left the body and leaving it in a “preserved” state, can at any moment return to it, and it will come to life (this can happen in a day and in a hundred years, and in a million years), thus organizing the Gene Pool of Humanity. According to scientists, sleep is the best medicine. Indeed, the kingdom of Morpheus saves people from many stresses and diseases , and simply relieves fatigue.
It is believed that the duration of sleep for a normal person is 5–7 hours. But sometimes the line between normal sleep and sleep caused by stress is very thin. We are talking about lethargy (Greek lethargia, from lethe - oblivion and argia - inaction), a painful state similar to sleep and characterized by immobility, lack of reactions to external irritation and the absence of all external signs of life. People were always afraid to fall into a lethargic sleep, because there was a danger of being buried alive.
For example, the famous Italian poet Francesco Petrarca, who lived in the 14th century, became seriously ill at the age of 40. One day he lost consciousness, he was considered dead and was about to be buried. Fortunately, the law of that time prohibited burying the dead earlier than one day after death. Having woken up almost at his grave, Petrarch said that he felt excellent. After that he lived another 30 years.
1838 - an incredible incident occurred in one of the English villages. During the funeral, when the coffin with the deceased was lowered into the grave and they began to bury it, some unclear sound came from there. By the time the frightened cemetery workers came to their senses, dug up the coffin and opened it, it was too late: under the lid they saw a face frozen in horror and despair. And the torn shroud and bruised hands showed that help was too late...
In Germany in 1773, after screams coming from the grave, a pregnant woman who had been buried the day before was exhumed. Eyewitnesses discovered traces of a brutal struggle for life: the nervous shock of being buried alive provoked premature birth, and the child suffocated in the coffin along with his mother...
The fears of the great writer Nikolai Gogol of being buried alive are well known. The writer suffered a final mental breakdown after the death of the woman whom he loved endlessly, Ekaterina Khomyakova, the wife of his friend. Gogol was shocked by her death. Soon he burned the manuscript of the second part of “Dead Souls” and went to bed. Doctors advised him to lie down, but his body protected the writer too well: he fell into a sound, life-saving sleep, which at that time was mistaken for death. In 1931, according to the plan for the improvement of Moscow, the Bolsheviks decided to destroy the cemetery of the Danilov Monastery, where Gogol was buried. During the exhumation, those present saw with horror that the skull of the great writer was turned to one side, and the material in the coffin was torn...
In England there is still a law according to which all morgue refrigerators must have a bell with a rope so that the revived “dead person” can call for help by ringing the bell. At the end of the 1960s, the first device was created there that made it possible to detect the most insignificant electrical activity of the heart. During testing of the device in the morgue, a living girl was found among the corpses.
The causes of lethargy are not yet known to medicine. Medicine describes cases of people falling into such a dream due to intoxication, large blood loss, hysterical attack, or fainting. It is interesting that in the event of a threat to life (bombing during the war), those sleeping in a lethargic sleep woke up, were able to walk, and after artillery shelling fell asleep again. The aging mechanism in those who fall asleep is very slow. Over 20 years of sleep, they do not change externally, but then, while awake, they catch up with their biological age in 2–3 years, turning into old people before our eyes.
Nazira Rustemova from Kazakhstan, as a 4-year-old child, first “fell into a state similar to delirium, and then fell asleep in a lethargic sleep.” Doctors at the regional hospital considered her dead, and soon the parents buried the girl alive. The only thing that saved her was that, according to Muslim custom, the body of the deceased is not buried in the ground, but is wrapped in a shroud and buried in a burial house. Nazira remained in lethargy for 16 years and woke up when she was about to turn 20. According to Rustemova herself, “on the night after the funeral, her father and grandfather heard a voice in a dream that told them that she was alive,” which made them pay more attention to the “corpse” - they found faint signs of life.
The case of the longest officially registered lethargic sleep, listed in the Guinness Book of Records, occurred in 1954 with Nadezhda Artemovna Lebedina (who was born in 1920 in the village of Mogilev, Dnepropetrovsk region) due to a strong quarrel with her husband. As a result of the resulting stress, Lebedina fell asleep for 20 years and came to her senses again only in 1974. Doctors declared her absolutely healthy.
There is another record, which for some reason was not included in the Guinness Book of Records. Augustine Leggard fell asleep after the stress of childbirth... But she was very slow to open her mouth when she was fed. 22 years passed, and sleeping Augustine remained just as young. But then the woman perked up and spoke: “Frederick, it’s probably already late, the child is hungry, I want to feed him!” But instead of a newborn baby, she saw a 22-year-old young woman, exactly like herself... Soon, however, time took its toll: the awakened woman began to rapidly grow old, a year later she turned into an old woman and died five years later.
There are cases where lethargic sleep occurred periodically. One priest from England slept six days a week, and on Sunday he got up to eat and serve a prayer service. Usually in mild cases of lethargy there is immobility, muscle relaxation, even breathing, but in severe cases, which are rare, there is a picture of a truly imaginary death: the skin is cold and pale, the pupils do not react, breathing and pulse are difficult to detect, strong painful stimuli do not cause a reaction, no reflexes. The best guarantee against lethargy is a calm life and lack of stress.
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Lethargic sleep is a deviation, a specific state, similar in appearance to deep sleep. In this case, a subject who has fallen into lethargy does not show reactions to stimuli from the outside. This condition resembles a coma. All vital signs are intact, but it is impossible to wake the person. In severe cases, imaginary death may occur, characterized by a drop in body temperature, a slowing of the heartbeat and the disappearance of respiratory movements. Today, the concept in question is considered a fictitious condition, mainly described in artistic creations and differing from coma in the preservation of vital organ functions. However, it has long been no secret that the human body cannot survive for a long period without drinking. That is why maintaining vital functions in a prolonged state of unconsciousness is impossible without medical assistance.
An individual in the described state is immobilized and does not show reactions to external stimuli. At the same time, vital activity is preserved. Breathing becomes slow, the pulse is almost impossible to feel, and the heartbeat is also barely noticeable.
The term “lethargy” itself came into use from Latin. "Lethe" means "oblivion." This word is familiar to many from the mythological works of antiquity, where the kingdom of the dead and the Lethe River flowing through it are mentioned. According to legends, the deceased who drank water from this source forget everything that happened to them in their worldly life. The word "argia" means "numbness." There have been known cases of lethargic sleep in history, so in ancient times it was irrational to be buried alive.
The Duke of Mecklenburg in the distant 18th century in his own possessions in Germany forbade burying the dead immediately after death. He decided that from the moment of death to the moment of burial it is necessary to wait three days. 3 days should have passed from this date. After some time, this rule spread throughout the continent.
In the 19th century, master undertakers developed special “safe” coffins that allowed a person who had been mistakenly buried to live for some time and even signal his own awakening. So, for example, most often the pipe was brought out of the coffin to the surface of the earth so that the clergy who regularly visit the graves could hear the call of the subject buried alive. In addition, through such a tube the smell of a corpse was supposed to come out if the person was not buried alive. Therefore, if, after a certain time, there was no smell of decomposition, then the grave had to be opened.
Today, most European countries have developed many ways to avoid burying a person alive. For example, in Slovakia they put a telephone in the coffin of the deceased so that the subject, if he suddenly wakes up, has the opportunity to call and thereby avoid a terrible death, and in Great Britain a bell is used for this purpose.
Physiologist I. Pavlov examined and studied examples of lethargic sleep. He examined a man who had been in a state of lethargy for 22 years, who, after waking up, said that he was aware of what was happening, heard, but he could not react, speak or make a movement. Official medicine recorded the longest episode of lethargic sleep in Dnepropetrovsk. 34-year-old N. Lebedina went to bed after a family conflict, and woke up only after 20 years.
Examples of lethargic sleep can also be found in literary works such as “Premature Burial” and “Sleeping Beauty.” The earliest mention of lethargy is found in the Bible.
Lethargic sleep today remains a mysterious and poorly studied phenomenon. The reasons why subjects enter this state are unknown. Some people tend to look for reasons in magic or the intervention of something otherworldly. It is easier for people to blame supernatural forces or deny the possibility of existence when they do not understand something.
Causes of lethargic sleep
There are known cases of lethargic sleep that occurs after a person has suffered a serious shock or stress. Also, this condition can occur in people who are on the verge of serious nervous or physical exhaustion. More often, lethargy occurs in women with high emotionality, prone to. According to the theory of psychologists, a wonderful world of oblivion awaits those with excessive emotionality. For them, a state of lethargy is a place where fears, stress and unresolved problems do not exist. Chronic fatigue syndrome can also be a cause of lethargy.
The described condition is also caused by some illnesses that injure the nervous system, for example, lethargic encephalitis. It is believed that lethargy is caused by the occurrence of a pronounced widespread and deep inhibitory process localized in the subcortex of the brain. The most common factors that give rise to the described condition include severe mental shock and severe exhaustion (for example, due to serious blood loss due to childbirth). In addition, it is possible to artificially put the subject into a lethargic state through.
Symptoms and signs of lethargic sleep
The disorder in question has symptoms that are not varied. The individual sleeps, but physiological processes, such as the need for food, water, and others do not disturb him. Metabolism during lethargy is reduced. Also, the person has a complete lack of response to external stimuli.
According to modern concepts, lethargy is a serious illness characterized by several clinical manifestations. Before falling into lethargic sleep, a person experiences a sudden inhibition of the functioning of organs and metabolic processes. Breathing becomes impossible to determine visually. In addition, the individual stops responding to noise or light effects, or to pain.
People who are in a lethargic state do not age. At the same time, after awakening, they quickly make up for their biological years.
Relatively conventionally, all cases of the described condition can be divided into mild lethargy and severe. It is quite difficult to distinguish between them, as well as to note the moment of transition from a mild stage to a severe one. It is known that in individuals who are in lethargic sleep, the ability of what is happening, analysis and memory function are preserved, but there is no ability to react to what is happening.
Mild forms of lethargy are characterized by immobility of the patient, even breathing, relaxed muscles, and a slight drop in temperature. The ability to swallow and chewing function are preserved, physiological functions are also preserved. This form resembles ordinary deep sleep.
Features of the severe form of lethargy include: muscle hypotonia, lack of response to external stimulation, pallor of the epidermis, decreased blood pressure, absence of individual reflexes, difficulty in feeling the pulse, a strong drop in temperature, lack of need for nutrition and physiological functions, arrest of mental development, dehydration of the body.
What is the difference between lethargic sleep and coma? The disorder in question and coma are two dangerous illnesses that often lead to death. Moreover, if an individual is in one of the described states, doctors are unable to provide a time frame for recovery or guarantees of recovery. This is where the similarity between these disorders ends.
Lethargy is a serious illness characterized by a slowdown in metabolism, loss of response to external stimuli, and light and difficult breathing. This condition can last for several decades.
Coma is an acute pathological condition characterized by the absence, suppression of the vital functions of the nervous system, a malfunction in the functioning of the body (respiratory disorder, circulatory disorders, and metabolic abnormalities occur). The duration of stay in this state cannot be determined. It is also impossible to say with certainty whether an individual will regain consciousness or die.
The difference between the ailments under consideration is the way out of them. The individual emerges from lethargy on his own. He's just waking up. A person who has fallen into a lethargic sleep must be provided with parenteral feeding. It should be turned over, washed, and waste products removed in a timely manner. To bring patients out of coma, drug therapy, the use of special equipment and specific methods are required. If an individual who has fallen into a comatose state is not provided with timely resuscitation measures and life support is not provided, then he will die.
An individual, while in lethargic sleep, breathes independently, even when breathing is imperceptible. At the same time, his body continues to function normally. In a comatose state, everything happens differently: the body’s vital functions are disrupted, as a result of which its functioning is ensured by special equipment.
Treatment of lethargic sleep
In order to distinguish lethargy from death, it is necessary to conduct an electrocardiography or electroencephalogram. The person's torso should also be carefully examined for injuries that clearly indicate incompatibility with life or obvious signs of death (rigor mortis). In addition, you can check for capillary bleeding using a small incision.
The therapeutic strategy must be purely individual. The violation in question does not imply hospitalization of the patient. It is enough if the individual is under the supervision of relatives. A person in a state of lethargy, first of all, should be provided with adequate living conditions in order to minimize the occurrence of side effects after awakening. Care involves placing a person in a ventilated and thoroughly cleaned separate room, parenteral feeding (or through a tube), hygiene procedures (the patient must be washed, anti-bedsore measures must be taken). It is also necessary to monitor the temperature. If it is cold indoors, a person should be covered. In hot weather, try to avoid overheating.
In addition, since there is a version that an individual in a lethargic sleep hears everything that is happening, it is recommended to talk with him. You can tell him about the events that happened during the day, read literature or sing songs. The main thing is to try to fill his existence with positive feelings.
If there is a significant decrease in blood pressure, injection of caffeine is indicated. Immunotherapy may sometimes be needed.
Due to the lack of complete information about the etiological factor of the disease in question, it is impossible to develop a unified therapeutic strategy and preventive measures. The available data only allows us to understand that in order to avoid a state of lethargy, it is necessary to avoid exposure to stressors and strive for a healthy existence.
Doctor of the Medical and Psychological Center "PsychoMed"
Lethargic sleep remains an unsolved puzzle to this day. It is also called “lazy death” or “slow life”. Scientific studies of this phenomenon have not brought definitive results. There are still more questions than answers regarding the cause, prevention, and treatment of the disease. Modern medicine is able to detect and identify an abnormal condition in a timely manner. But “awakening” the patient is still impossible.
The thrill of the unknown and incomprehensible once helped cavemen to exist in harsh prehistoric conditions. As humanity developed, the topics of social and individual phobias changed. How not to fall into long-term oblivion is a fear that lurks in the subconscious of almost every modern person. In the past, lethargic sleep was a real problem and widespread. Frequent mass epidemics gave rise to many prejudices. There is a hypothesis that clinical sleep gave rise to all sorts of myths about the living dead.
It is important to know! Taphophobia is the fear of being buried alive. Many famous personalities survived him: George Washington, Marina Tsvetaeva, Alfred Nobel, Nikolai Gogol.
“The sleep of reason gives birth to monsters,” a well-known phraseology finds repeated historical confirmation.
Here are just some interesting facts on the topic of lethargic sleep:
- Common healing methods were: exorcism sessions, immersion in ice water, applying a hot iron to the feet, and electric shock. All of the above manipulations had no therapeutic effect, and sometimes ended in the death of the sufferer.
- The honorary position was that of the caretaker of the cemetery. His duties included periodically monitoring the area for “revival.” Screams and blows from the ground were a kind of “message” and served as the reason for extricating the “dead”.
- Human resourcefulness knows no bounds. In the past, due to the lethargic “boom”, the production of “safe coffins” expanded. Everything ingenious is simple - a box with a tube on top allowed the “revived” one to seek timely help. Adolf Gutsmon at one time broke the mold by inventing a coffin with an internal food supply. I tested it myself, having dined on sausages and beer inside.
It is not surprising that most of the “saved” people lost their minds. Statistics have preserved a lot of examples when people began to live in a cemetery and “attribute” supernatural abilities to themselves.
Explanation of the term “lethargic sleep”
What is lethargic sleep? Translated from ancient Greek, lethargy means oblivion and inaction. This is a pathological condition characterized by a strong slowdown in the functioning of the body. There are two forms: light and heavy.
The first option cannot be called a dream, although its external manifestation resembles it:
- breathing is even;
- the heart works without changes;
- It takes a lot of effort for the patient to wake up.
The second option can easily be mistaken for death. Since there are practically no external differences:
- the pulse rate is minimal - about 3 beats per minute;
- breathing is not audible;
- the skin lacks natural pigment and is cold to the touch.
The duration of the disease varies. There are cases when the hours of “oblivion” were extended for decades.
Features of the phenomenon
Lethargy can be a symptom of CFS. Chronic fatigue syndrome is pathological fatigue that does not disappear even after a long rest. Increased emotional stress and low physical activity provoke the onset of the disease. Potential patients are all residents of large cities, businessmen, health workers, air traffic controllers, and logisticians. Characterized by depression, apathy, partial memory loss, attacks of anger, and aggressive behavior.
More about the signs
Lethargic sleep is not coma, not narcolepsy or epidemic encephalitis. Over time, doctors learned to tell the difference. Despite the similarity of symptoms, the listed diagnoses are different and require special treatment.
Coma is a serious illness that progresses and is characterized by loss of consciousness, disruption of the central nervous system, and poor breathing. A person has no reactions to external stimuli or reflexes. They always enter a coma as a result of severe complications of the disease, or as a result of severe brain damage. Unlike lethargy, where vital processes are slowed down but continue, coma requires permanent medical support of body functions.
It is important to know! People who fall into lethargic hibernation do not age, and, upon awakening, can boast of excellent health. True, having begun an active life, a person quickly feels age-related changes. Because time is “catching up.”
The consequences of coma are often sad: the patient either dies or remains disabled. Rare facts indicate a successful outcome when the patient talks about the details of the “afterlife.”
Causes of the condition
No scientist can name the exact causes of lethargic sleep. But researchers agree that this condition appears under the influence of severe stress, which the body cannot cope with, and therefore falls into a mode of maximum “energy conservation.” There is an assumption that the culprit is an unknown virus, as a result of which the European population “suffered” at the dawn of the 20th century.
The most attentive doctors suspected a connection between frequent sore throats and severe forgetfulness. As a result, mutated staphylococcus was named as the suspected cause.
There are many versions, but all studies agree on one thing: the development of a deep inhibitory process in the brain causes lethargy.
Duration
The illness can last from several hours to months. At one time, the record was set by Ivan Kachalkin, which made him famous in scientific circles. He had a lethargic dream for 22 years. The patient was under the supervision of I.P. Pavlova. A well-known academician described the details: “The state of a living corpse without movements and minimal external manifestations.” The bedridden patient was fed with a tube, and by the age of sixty the patient was able to go to the restroom and sometimes feed himself.
Awakening and consequences
Modern medicine has not yet invented a way to awaken from the “slow life”. No one can predict when the patient will wake up. True, Indian yogis know how to fall into lethargic sleep and come out of it arbitrarily. Unfortunately, most people do not have this degree of enlightenment.
Usually the awakened person is healthy, but retains in his memory the day the illness began. A real case occurred in Latin America: a girl slept from six years to twenty-three. After waking up, I immediately began to play with dolls, since my mental memory remained in childhood. The famous poet Petrarch died only 30 years after his lethargic sleep. During these years, the life of the legendary personality was fruitful, he even managed to receive a laurel wreath as a reward.
Death and lethargic sleep: how to distinguish
Today, the fear of being buried alive has no serious basis. The occurrence of lethargic sleep is being thoroughly studied by doctors. Using special devices, the brain and heart activity of the body is analyzed. The totality of the results may indicate the presence of “life”. Then doctors carefully examine the person’s torso, recognize damage to important organs, and exclude signs of tissue decay. The third stage is blood testing (flow strength, chemical analysis). If a medical examination determines the presence of lethargy, the patient is sent for treatment.
Home care or hospital
Whether the patient stays at home or is under the direct supervision of medical staff is decided by close relatives based on their real strengths and capabilities. There is no need for clinical intervention.
Treatment is symptomatic, so an important component of care is the organization of feeding (“from a spoon” or through an umbrella) and careful hygiene of the patient.
Advice! Often those who awaken note that during sleep they can perfectly hear surrounding sounds. Therefore, those closest to you are advised to talk with the patient more often. A positive aspect of the “lazy death” syndrome is the absence of danger to life.
Real descriptions of cases of lethargy
Various cases of lethargic sleep and further awakening are striking in their drama. Some are worthy of becoming an interesting plot of a thriller, horror or comedy:
- France, 19th century, the head of the family loses consciousness in a rich house. The doctor confirmed death. The closest relatives wanted to divide the inheritance without putting the matter on the back burner. The process turned into a huge scandal, during which even the “deceased” was not spared. What a surprise it was when the deceased sat down in the coffin right in the middle of the funeral service and said that he had heard everything. The ending of the story remained a mystery.
- An example from the recent past: 2011, the city of Sevastopol. One of the local morgues was rented by a metal band to prepare for concerts. The place is ideal both in terms of style and sound insulation. One fine day, the guys tried especially hard and woke up a man who was considered a corpse. The rockers came running to the screams coming from the refrigerator and saved the unfortunate man. But we had to rehearse in a different place.
- A Norwegian woman fell asleep due to stress caused by childbirth. The disease lasted a long time. The woman woke up 20 years later, as young as she was at the time she passed out. An elderly man and an adult girl were sitting near the home bed. As it turned out - husband and daughter. Less than a year had passed before the awakened woman began to look in accordance with her age.
The world around us is still fraught with many mysteries. Let's hope that the human mind will eventually find the missing pieces of the “puzzle” and cope with the next task.
Lethargic sleep is a painful condition in people that some doctors consider special. This phenomenon is reminiscent of a person’s long and deep rest, which can last several years.
Clinical sleep is characterized by a lack of reaction to any stimuli (noise, light, cold), complete immobility of a person, as well as a slowdown of all vital processes. As many videos show, cases of lethargic sleep are often recorded, and a person can sleep for several days or even weeks.
And in exceptional cases, people can fall asleep for several years. It is important to note that sometimes a person uses hypnosis to fall into a lethargic sleep.
Scientists conducting research claim that the reasons why this condition develops are very different. Moreover, it depends on them how long a person’s rest can last. Women who are often subjected to hysterics often fall into a lethargic sleep.
After all, severe stress, excessive emotionality and nervousness can easily cause this phenomenon. There is one known case, which is now included in the book of records: a woman had a strong quarrel with her husband, after which she fell asleep for 20 years.
There have also been cases when people fell into long sleep due to head injuries, after accidents (for example, car accidents), after the loss of a loved one. All these phenomena are characterized by strong emotions and stress.
British scientists believe that sore throat can cause lethargic sleep, since many people fell into it soon after the discovery of the disease. However, this fact could not be officially registered, since it was not possible to find evidence that in these cases the bacterium that causes sore throat is to blame.
As mentioned earlier, hypnosis can cause this phenomenon - there have often been cases when Indian yogis, while using the breathing slowing technique, fell into this state, which is considered artificial.
Signs
Every person needs to know the signs of this condition, since it is quite difficult to distinguish a sleeping person from a deceased person. The main signs of this condition include:
- imperceptible and very weak breathing;
- low body temperature;
- barely perceptible heartbeat (usually 3 beats per minute).
After a person wakes up, he will quickly catch up with his age and will also age instantly.
In fact, you can distinguish such a state from a deceased person if you carefully examine the sleeping person. As a rule, in this case it is necessary to call an ambulance, which will examine the patient and then correctly recognize the condition.
Only an experienced person can independently determine lethargic sleep, since he must take into account several signs of such a condition. Unfortunately, many perceive it as death.
Symptoms
All symptoms of this condition are quite specific. The patient's consciousness during its development, as a rule, is preserved. Moreover, a person is able to remember all the events that happen around him, but he cannot react to them. In addition to death, this condition also needs to be distinguished from encephalitis and narcolepsy.
If the patient's condition is severe, it may cause the following symptoms:
- pale and cold skin;
- it is difficult to determine the pulse and breathing;
- decrease in pressure;
- lack of reaction even to strong stimuli;
- lack of reaction of the pupils to light or any other irritant.
For several days during lethargic sleep, a person stops excreting urine and feces, and he also stops drinking and eating. In this case, he quickly loses weight and becomes dehydrated. However, it will be possible to restore the normal state of the body only after waking up.
If the patient's condition is mild, then the clinical signs will be slightly different. In this case, the symptoms are as follows:
- even breathing;
- eye rolling;
- making slow chewing movements;
- swallowing movements.
In other words, a person can perceive everything that happens around him. If it is impossible to feed the patient, this is done using a special probe.
As a rule, the duration of this condition in mild and severe cases is different. How long do people usually sleep? At home, this can last from 2-3 days to several weeks. Lethargic sleep can occur in a person of any age, but in childhood it occurs less frequently. Depending on age, the duration of rest may also vary.
How can you distinguish lethargy from death?
If a person is in lethargy, he has absolutely no reaction to any external stimuli. Even if the patient is conscious, because of this phenomenon he will not respond even to serious irritants, for example, pouring boiling water on him. In this case, the patient may experience movement of the pupils.
Sometimes, as facts show, a person may experience twitching of the body, which is caused by the influence of muscle current. An ECG will show a heartbeat, and an electroencephalogram will reveal weak brain activity.
Typically, such symptoms are observed throughout the entire “lethargic” sleep, but sometimes they appear only after a couple of days, when the person’s condition stabilizes and “gets used to” a long rest.
Attention! Life for such a person goes the same way as for other people. For some time he sleeps deeply, and when awake he perceives any signals of heat, pain, light, but cannot give a command to the body. This is why some people can remember some information after they wake up.
Now the differences between death and lethargic sleep in humans have become clear. It is worth noting that the consequences of this phenomenon are observed quite rarely. The most famous of them is dehydration and exhaustion of the body.
How is lethargy treated?
The treatment for lethargy remains a mystery to this day. Back in 1930, this method was used to wake up: first, a sleeping pill was injected into a person intravenously, and then an stimulant drug was administered in the same way.
This helped the person to go into himself for 10 minutes, which allowed doctors to assess the general health of the patient. Hypnosis is also quite effective as a treatment. After awakening, many patients claim that they learned a new language or remembered other important information.
This is due to the fact that the brain completely relaxed during a long rest and began to absorb information from the outside.
Patients do not need to take medications or undergo inpatient treatment if their health condition is satisfactory. Otherwise, restoration of health is carried out under the supervision of doctors.
Anyone can go into lethargy, so it is important to know how to distinguish this state from death and coma, as well as why lethargic sleep may occur. All this will allow you to take the right measures to monitor a sleeping person, as well as provide first aid if his health deteriorates.
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