Lethargic sleep: its causes and symptoms, known cases. Lethargic sleep: interesting facts, causes and manifestations

Lethargic sleep (lethargy, imaginary death) is a rare sleep disorder that manifests itself in a state resembling " deep dream" 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 extremely rare disease, and its long-term manifestation 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 lethargic sleep to occur after a person has experienced 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 there is no reaction to painful sensations and to 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.

At severe form a person’s temperature drops sharply, a person can go without food for several days, the discharge of urine and feces stops, muscle hypotension sets in, and the arterial pressure, the pulse is difficult to palpate, the skin turns pale, there is no reaction to painful stimuli, the reaction of the pupils to light disappears, dehydration and other signs occur.

If feeding a patient in the usual ways is impossible, then a special probe is used.

Due to long sleep, a person waking up receives a whole bunch of different 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 proper nutrition and the volume of fluid consumed, isolate it from extraneous irritating noises, change bed linen, maintain a comfortable temperature, warm in cold weather, and avoid overheating of the patient in hot weather. Fortified food should be given to the patient in liquid form. Also, do not forget about hygiene care for the sick.

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.

KNOWN CASES OF LETHRAGIC SLEEP

Lethargy comes from the Greek lethe "oblivion" and argia "inaction." This is not just one of the varieties of sleep, but a real disease. In a person in lethargic sleep, all vital processes of the body slow down - the heartbeat becomes rare, breathing is shallow and unnoticeable, and there is almost no reaction to external stimuli.

How long can lethargic sleep last?

Lethargic sleep can be light or heavy. In the case of the first, the person is noticeably breathing, he retains a partial perception of the world - the patient looks like a deeply sleeping person. In severe form, it becomes like a dead person - the body becomes cold and pale, the pupils stop reacting to light, breathing becomes so invisible that even with the help of a mirror it is difficult to determine its presence. Such a patient begins to lose weight, and biological secretions stop. In general, even at the modern level of medicine, the presence of life in such a patient is determined only with the help of an ECG and a chemical blood test. What can we say about the early eras, when humanity did not know the concept of “lethargy”, and any person who was cold and unresponsive to stimuli would have been considered dead.

The length of lethargic sleep is unpredictable, as is the length of coma. An attack can last from several hours to decades. There is a well-known case observed by Academician Pavlov. He came across a patient who “slept through” the revolution. Kachalkin was in lethargy from 1898 to 1918. After waking up, he said that he understood everything that was happening around him, but “felt a terrible, irresistible heaviness in his muscles, so that it was even difficult for him to breathe.”

Causes

Despite the case described above, lethargy is most common in women. Especially those who are prone to hysteria. A person can fall asleep after severe emotional stress, as, for example, happened to Nadezhda Lebedina in 1954. After a quarrel with her husband, she fell asleep and woke up only 20 years later. Moreover, according to the recollections of her loved ones, she reacted to what was happening emotionally. True, the patient herself does not remember this.

In addition to stress, schizophrenia can cause lethargy. For example, the Kachalkin we mentioned suffered from it. In such cases, according to doctors, sleep can become natural reaction for illness.

In some cases, lethargy resulted from serious injuries heads, at severe poisoning, significant blood loss and physical exhaustion. Norwegian resident Augustine Leggard fell asleep after giving birth for 22 years.

Side effects and overdose of strong drugs can lead to lethargic sleep. medicines, for example, interferon - an antiviral and antitumor drug. In this case, to bring the patient out of lethargy, it is enough to stop taking the medicine.

Recently, more and more opinions have been heard about viral reasons lethargy. Yes, doctors medical sciences Russell Dale and Andrew Church, having studied the history of twenty patients with lethargy, identified a pattern that many of the patients had a sore throat before “falling asleep.” Further searches bacterial infection made it possible to identify a rare form of streptococci in all these patients. Based on this, scientists decided that the bacteria that caused sore throat changed their properties, overcame immune protection and caused inflammation of the midbrain. Such a defeat nervous system could provoke an attack of lethargic sleep.

Taphophobia

With the awareness of lethargy as a disease came phobias. Today, taphophobia, or the fear of being buried alive, is one of the most common in the world. She's in different time such people suffered famous personalities, like Schopenhauer, Nobel, Gogol, Tsvetaeva and Edgar Allan Poe. The latter dedicated many works to his fear. His story “Buried Alive” describes many cases of lethargic sleep that ended in tears: “I looked closely; and by the will of the invisible, who was still clutching my wrist, all the graves on the face of the earth were opened before me. But alas! Not all of them fell into a sound sleep; there were many millions more others who did not sleep forever; I saw that many, seemingly at rest in the world, in one way or another changed those frozen, uncomfortable positions in which they were interred.”

Taphophobia is reflected not only in literature, but also in law and scientific thought. As early as 1772, the Duke of Mecklenburg introduced a mandatory delay of funerals until the third day after death to prevent the possibility of being buried alive. Soon this measure was adopted in a number of European countries. Since the 19th century, safe coffins began to be produced, equipped with a means of escape for those “accidentally buried.” Emmanuel Nobel made for himself one of the first crypts with ventilation and alarm (a bell that was driven by a rope installed in the coffin). Subsequently, inventors Franz Western and Johan Taberneg invented protection for the bell from accidental ringing, equipped the coffin with an anti-mosquito net, and installed drainage systems to avoid flooding with rainwater.

Safety coffins still exist today. Modern model invented and patented in 1995 by Italian Fabrizio Caseli. His project included an alarm, an intercom-like communication system, a flashlight, Breathe-helping machine, cardiac monitor and pacemaker.

Why do sleepers not age?

Paradoxically, in the case of long-term lethargy, a person practically does not change. He doesn't even age. In the cases described above, both women, Nadezhda Lebedina and Augustine Leggard, corresponded to their previous ages during sleep. But as soon as their lives acquired a normal rhythm, the years took their toll. Thus, Augustine aged sharply during the first year after awakening, and Nadezhda’s body caught up with its “fifty dollars” in less than six months. The doctors recall: “What we were able to observe was unforgettable! She grew old before our eyes. Every day I added new wrinkles and gray hair.”

What is the secret of the youth of those who sleep, and how the body so quickly regains the lost years, scientists have yet to find out.

Lethargic sleep is a deviation, a specific state, similar external signs with 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 life activity in a protracted unconscious impossible without medical help.

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. Over 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 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 is sleeping, but at the same time physiological processes, such as the need for food, water and others do not bother him. Metabolism during lethargy is reduced. Also, the person has a complete lack of response to external stimuli.

According to modern ideas, lethargy is 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 mark the moment of transition mild stage to heavy. 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, strong drop in temperature, lack of need for nutrition and physiological functions, stoppage mental development, dehydration.

What is the difference between lethargic sleep and coma? The disorder in question and coma are two dangerous illness, often leading 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 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, abnormalities in metabolism occur). Duration of stay in this state impossible to install. 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 comes out of 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 it is necessary drug therapy, the use of special equipment and specific methods. 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. At comatose everything happens differently: the vital functions of the body 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 death (rigor). 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 waking up. Care involves placing the person in a ventilated and thoroughly cleaned separate room, parenteral feeding (or tube feeding), hygiene procedures(the patient must be washed and anti-bedsore measures taken). It is also necessary to monitor temperature conditions. 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 actions. 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.

Lethargic sleep is one of the most incomprehensible and frightening pathologies, which scientists have been trying to study for centuries. In a person, simple reflexes are suppressed, while inhibitory processes prevail in the brain, and the heartbeat is practically not audible (up to 3 beats/min.), There is no reaction of the pupil to light. Due to immobility, absence physiological needs, coldness skin and the imperceptible breathing of a person is difficult to distinguish from a dead one. Perhaps this gave rise to the belief in the existence of ghouls and bloodsuckers who emerge from their graves at night in search of their victims.

Lethargic sleep: what is it?

Imaginary death (lethargy) is a neurological pathology characterized by a lack of response to any stimuli. It is known that a state such as lethargic sleep can last from a couple of hours to several decades. There are cases where people woke up after 20 years. The condition does not require maintaining vital processes, this means that the body does not need to receive food or perform natural needs, although modern medicine requires parenteral nutrition.

Among probable causes conditions - severe stress, mental illness, tendency to hysteria, severe somatic diseases, physical exhaustion, hemorrhages. The end of lethargy can come as suddenly as the beginning.

Causes

Research has shown that the causes of lethargic sleep are varied. It often occurs in women prone to hysterical reactions. In addition, there are several cases of illness caused by the stress of losing relatives. Mental illnesses, in particular schizophrenia, play a certain role in the occurrence of the disease.

British researchers R. Dale and E. Church, based on a study of 20 cases of lethargy, found that most of the patients had a sore throat the day before. In their opinion, this condition is caused by the influence of a specific bacterial infection that bypassed the blood-brain barrier and caused inflammation of the midbrain.

Abuse of antitumor and antiviral drugs may also cause overdose and adverse reactions. Treatment in this case comes down to stopping therapy. Lethargy also occurs in people after severe intoxication, exhaustion of the body and massive blood loss.

The reasons for this condition are not completely clear. Presumably, it is caused by inflammation of the midbrain.

Symptoms

In a state of lethargy, consciousness is partially preserved, and a person can hear and remember what is happening, but there is no reaction to external stimuli. Availability specific signs Lethargic sleep helps differentiate it from narcolepsy and inflammation of the meninges. In severe cases of the disease, the sleeper becomes like a dead person: the skin becomes pale and cold, and the pupils completely stop responding to light. The pulse and breathing become barely noticeable, the pressure drops, and the person does not respond to pain.

Patients stop eating and drinking, urination and bowel movements disappear, dehydration and weight loss increase. In some cases, the condition is limited to deep sleep with even breathing, complete immobility and muscle rigidity, periodic movements eyeballs. The swallowing and chewing reflex, as well as partial perception of reality, may be preserved. IN severe cases feeding occurs through a tube.

All types of lethargy fall into the superficial phase. One of the manifestations REM sleep is that the patient, after waking up, can describe in detail the events that took place. Due to prolonged inactivity, he often wakes up with a whole list of pathologies, starting with simple bedsores and ending with infectious lesion kidneys, bronchi or degenerative vascular conditions.

How long can lethargic sleep last?

The severity of lethargy can vary. IN mild case The patient exhibits respiratory movements and partially retains consciousness. At in serious condition he detects signs of death - pallor and coldness of the skin, lack of reaction of the pupils to light, visual absence of respiratory movements. Subsequently, the body becomes dehydrated and the person loses weight, urination and bowel movements disappear.

The duration of lethargy varies. An attack can last from several hours to tens of years.

The specialized literature describes several cases of lethargic sleep:

1. Recorded by Academician Pavlov: the sick Kachalkin was in a state of sleep for 20 years (from 1898 to 1918). Upon regaining consciousness, he reported that he was aware of what was happening, but was unable to react due to severe weakness and breathing disorders. The cause of lethargy in this patient was schizophrenia.
2. The case listed in the Guinness Book occurred with N. Lebedina, a 34-year-old woman. Due to a stormy showdown with her husband, she fell asleep in 1954, and her sleep lasted 20 years. She woke up hearing her loved ones talking about her mother's death. Doctors came to the conclusion that her illness was caused by a hysterical reaction to a quarrel.
3. Augustine Lingard from Norway suffered serious pathological birth with great blood loss, which is why she fell into lethargy for 22 years (from 1919 to 1941). During sleep, the biological processes of aging slowed down, so she looked the same. But in almost a year she “caught up” with her peers. Doctors watched in amazement as Augustine aged literally before our eyes.
4. The famous Italian poet F. Petrarch fell ill infectious disease and fell into a momentary lethargy. Fortunately, he came to his senses at the funeral ceremony. After that, he lived and worked for another 30 years.

A severe state of lethargy can now only be determined using a chemical blood test, encephalogram or ECG. In earlier times, as a result medical error the patient could be buried alive.

What happens during lethargic sleep

At mild flow illness, a person simply looks asleep. But the severe form is very similar in symptoms to death. The heartbeat is difficult to record; it is only 2–3 beats/min. Breathing movements invisible, biological secretions practically stop. Due to slow blood circulation, the skin becomes pale and cold. At the same time it is vital important organs function poorly, and restoration of their work is in question. Studying the graph of brain activity allows us to conclude that the organ works in the same mode as when awake.

There are people who have repeatedly fallen into a lethargic state. They claim that every time before the attack they felt weak and headache. It is known that in such a state all mental reactions are inhibited, but the intellect remains at baseline, therefore, a person who has fallen into lethargy in early childhood, upon awakening, demonstrates complete immaturity.

Help with lethargic sleep consists of maintaining the functions of internal organs.

Coma and lethargy: what's the difference

Both conditions are pathological and pose a great danger to life. They are similar, but they can be distinguished by a number of characteristics.

During a coma, the following can be observed:

1. The cause is traumatic brain injury and the consequences of serious illnesses.
2. Often ends in the death of the patient.
3. Patients need to be connected to life support machines and administered medications.
4. Upon recovery from a coma, a person requires long-term rehabilitation.

Lethargy is characterized by the following symptoms:

1. Sleep is caused by the influence of intoxication, infection, severe stress or chronic fatigue syndrome.
2. The patient is able to breathe on his own (except in severe cases).
3. Lasts from a couple of hours to tens of years.
4. A person independently comes out of pathological sleep and returns to ordinary life. At the same time, his internal organs are functioning normally.

Lethargic sleep, apparently, is less dangerous for humans than coma. However, both of these phenomena require continuous monitoring of his condition. The main difference between coma and lethargy lies in the causes of occurrence and methods of recovery.

Lethargic sleep is one of the most unknown and least studied phenomena human body. It is so rare that the concept itself has acquired a magical aura. This phenomenon has a second name - imaginary death, and this is quite understandable. Despite the fact that the person is not dead, he falls asleep so deeply that it is almost impossible to wake him up. At the same time, all vital functions not only stop and cease their activity, but slow down so much that they can be very difficult to notice. Essentially, they freeze.

Outwardly and at first glance, lethargic sleep (lethargy) is no different from normal sleep. A sleeping person can cause concern to those around him only if he does not wake up during the day, especially if he does not even change his position all this time. Of course, if this is not the result too severe overwork when a person is able to sleep for a day.

WITH scientific point sight, lethargy is painful condition related to:

• emotional shock;
• mental disorder;
• severe physical (anorexia) or mental exhaustion.

A person stops reacting to any irritants, all processes in the body practically stop. Even the pulse and breathing become so weak and superficial that an inexperienced person can mistake this condition for death, although the brain continues to work actively.

More often women, and mostly young ones, fall into lethargy.

Scientists explain “going” into deep sleep as an attempt to isolate oneself from problems and experiences. That is, it's kind of defensive reaction body. Most likely, this is so - there are many cases where, during strong emotional experiences, a person constantly falls asleep (of course, in this case not lethargic). Similarly, the body defends itself by trying to conserve energy during illness. That is why it is believed that sleep is best medicine.

There is usually no treatment for such conditions. However, in case of prolonged unexplained sleep, it is recommended to undergo comprehensive examination to identify true reasons such a long sleep.

Considering that human brain has been studied very poorly so far, and all hypotheses are based mostly on assumptions and subjective interpretations of research results; the causes of lethargic sleep are still unknown. Scientists believe that this is the result of a strong slowdown in processes in the cerebral cortex.

However, the main factors that could provoke this condition can be identified:

• mental disorder(hysteria, depression, breakdown);
• physical exhaustion ( long fasting, anorexia, severe blood loss);
• a rare form of streptococcus that causes tonsillitis.

According to the observations of scientists, lethargy is often inherent in people who have had a sore throat, and the infection had a special, rather rare form. It is believed that it is this infection that causes lethargy.

Despite the fact that outwardly lethargy looks the same as normal sleep, it is a completely different process. Until a certain time, it was impossible to distinguish between them - the only difference could be only the duration of such “sleep,” which sometimes cost people their lives. Fortunately, modern technology and medical advances have made it possible for many years to distinguish between normal sleep, lethargy, coma and death.

There are two ways that will help you determine for sure that a person at least, alive:

1. Electroencephalogram.
2. Pupil reaction to light.

The first case is more scientific and, naturally, more reliable. Its essence lies in the fact that the encephalograph records nerve impulses in the brain. During normal sleep, the brain is at rest, or at least less active than during wakefulness. When a person dies, his brain also dies, that is, no activity will be recorded. But during lethargic sleep, when a person seems to be simply sleeping, his brain works in the same way as in the active phase. It is in such a situation that lethargy can be stated or at least assumed.

Interestingly, waking up from a lethargic sleep is as sudden and unpredictable as falling asleep.

The reaction of the pupils is the easiest way to understand whether a person is alive. If he has fallen into a lethargic sleep, then, as already mentioned, the body’s activity does not stop, so the pupils will react to the stimulus in any case, even if the other receptors have turned off.

It is possible to clearly record the symptoms of lethargic sleep mainly only when it manifests itself in acute form.

The condition is characterized by the following symptoms:

1. Cold and pale skin.
2. Hypotension muscle tissue.
3. Reduced blood pressure.
4. Weak pulse (up to 2-3 beats per minute).
5. Exchange processes are slowing down.

When similar condition flows into more mild form, the person retains chewing reflexes, the eyelids twitch in response to light. The brain is in an active phase.

It is possible to distinguish lethargic sleep from coma only instrumental methods. During a coma, the activity of the central nervous system and reflexes are suppressed, many body functions are blocked, breathing and blood circulation are impaired. In lethargic sleep, even in severe form, this is not observed.

It is known that many famous people They were very afraid of the state of lethargic sleep. This was mainly due to the fear of being buried alive. The most famous story of this nature tells about the famous mystical writer Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. The writer bequeathed to bury him only when traces of decomposition of the corpse become noticeable. According to Gogol scholars, he really suffered from periodically falling into lethargic sleep, hence the fear. At one time there was even a version that he was actually buried in lethargy, and when he woke up, he suffocated in the grave from lack of oxygen.

But this is nothing more than a fictional, albeit interesting, story. The writer was a famous mystic and was not afraid to describe in his works characters that others were afraid to even mention in their thoughts. Such fame as a writer made this story more believable. In fact, Gogol died from psychosis, which he suffered, probably due to his phobia.

Another famous case is the awakening of the medieval poet Francesco Petrarch while preparing his own funeral. The poet, however, fell asleep for only 20 hours. After this incident he lived another 30 years.

Known cases last decade, when people came to life in the morgue or were buried alive, but were removed from the coffin literally immediately because they began to make sounds. The coffin was immediately opened, but in none of these cases could the person be saved. The main characters of such stories were people different ages and different genders.

Another interesting fact has been repeatedly used in cinema and literature. When a person fell asleep for several decades, and woke up in a completely new, changed world. The curious thing in this case is that over all these years he did not turn into a decrepit old man, but woke up at the same age at which he fell asleep. There is obviously some truth in this phenomenon, at least this phenomenon can be explained - since all processes in the body slow down almost to a standstill, it is logical that the aging process also freezes.

The longest sleep was recorded for a resident of the Dnepropetrovsk region. She quarreled with her husband and fell into lethargy for 20 years, after which she woke up. This incident occurred in 1954 and was included in the Guinness Book of Records.

After some time, the same phenomenon occurred in Norway. The woman fell into a lethargic sleep after giving birth and slept for 22 years, and when she woke up, she looked just as young. However, after a year she appearance changed and became age appropriate.

Another incident occurred in Turkestan. The four-year-old girl who fell asleep was buried by her parents, thinking that she had died. But that same night they had a dream that their daughter was alive. So, the girl slept for another 16 years, being all this time at a research institute, after which she woke up and felt quite well and could walk normally. According to the girl’s stories, she lived in her dream and communicated with her ancestor.