# Dying From Lack of Sleep. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 18, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-from-lack-of-sleep/704997 "2014-11-18T20:35:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-from-lack-of-sleep/704997/1 "2014-11-18T20:35:17Z")
> [@](#): > > Mary had a little lamb, > Given to her to keep. > It followed her around until > It died from lack of sleep. (A humorous poem we used to say when I was a little child.) It has become a kind of an old cliché. But is it true? Can a person literally die from lack of sleep? And if they did, what would they ultimately die from? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-from-lack-of-sleep/704997/2 "2014-11-18T20:44:08Z")
Well, there is the rare [_Fatal Familial Insomnia_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_familial_insomnia), but that only occurs in about 40 families world-wide. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-from-lack-of-sleep/704997/3 "2014-11-18T21:31:59Z")
The biggest risk of dying from lack of sleep occurs when one is so tired they doze off behind the wheel. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2014, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-from-lack-of-sleep/704997/4 "2014-11-19T16:22:20Z")
It seems so: > [@](#): > > According to a report in Hunan province’s Sanxiang Metropolis newspaper, the 26-year-old was found dead by his mother after his 11-day football-watching marathon, finally expiring after Ireland’s 2-0 defeat to Italy on June 18. (2012) > > Liu Zhiling, a doctor from the local People’s Hospital ER, told the newspaper: “Jiang was in good health. But staying up through the night and not sleeping enough weakened his immune system and he drank and smoked while watching the football, triggering his condition.” [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/euro-2012/9348993/Chinese-man-dies-after-Euro-2012-viewing-marathon.html](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/euro-2012/9348993/Chinese-man-dies-after-Euro-2012-viewing-marathon.html) Not convinced that lack of sleep was the primary cause though. BTW - we used to say: _Mary had a little lamb, his feet as black as soot. And everywhere that Mary went, his sooty foot he put._ ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2014, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-from-lack-of-sleep/704997/5 "2014-11-19T17:35:24Z")
I’d never heard that people could die directly from lack of sleep, but I have read that extensive lack of sleep can lead to hallucinations and insanity. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2014, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-from-lack-of-sleep/704997/6 "2014-11-19T17:35:55Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Well, there is the rare [_Fatal Familial Insomnia_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_familial_insomnia), but that only occurs in about 40 families world-wide. And 2 (IIRC) cases ever recorded of sporadic familial insomnia. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2014, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-from-lack-of-sleep/704997/7 "2014-11-19T17:38:45Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Well, there is the rare [_Fatal Familial Insomnia_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_familial_insomnia), but that only occurs in about 40 families world-wide. There’s a great book about that disease, called “The Family That Could Not Sleep”, or something like that. It’s a horrible, horrible disease, and it is fatal, after many years of increasingly miserable sleeplessness. I don’t recall what the exact cause of death was determined to be. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2014, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-from-lack-of-sleep/704997/8 "2014-11-19T18:16:25Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > The biggest risk of dying from lack of sleep occurs when one is so tired they doze off behind the wheel. But it is a peaceful death, unlike the 40 screaming passengers. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2014, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-from-lack-of-sleep/704997/9 "2014-11-19T18:21:46Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > But it is a peaceful death, unlike the 40 screaming passengers. I wish I could die peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfather ; not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car - Emo Phillips ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2014, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-from-lack-of-sleep/704997/10 "2014-11-19T18:23:00Z")
[Rats have been demonstrated to die when deprived of sleep](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2928622) for 11 or more days, but the exact mechanism by which death occurs is not known. Also: [Can you die from lack of sleep?](http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2009/05/can_you_die_from_lack_of_sleep.html) ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2014, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-from-lack-of-sleep/704997/11 "2014-11-19T18:23:49Z")
Certainly not a real cite but on a recent documentary dealing with Navy Seal training one of the instructors said of hell week (paraphrasing), “We only keep them up for 120 hours because studies have shown that, any longer than that and they, well you know, die”. Even during hell week they get a few (3-4 total?) hours sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2014, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-from-lack-of-sleep/704997/12 "2014-11-19T18:31:29Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > [Rats have been demonstrated to die when deprived of sleep](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2928622) for 11 or more days, but the exact mechanism by which death occurs is not known. > > Also: [Can you die from lack of sleep?](http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2009/05/can_you_die_from_lack_of_sleep.html) Back in HS a scientist demonstrated how rats can die when deprived of sleep. But it was because the rats were injected with speed and kept in a cage with other drugged rats. They all died because the speed kept their little hearts racing. Another drugged rat who was kept alone in his own cage did not die. The experiment was supposed to demonstrate the deadly possibilities of speed. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2014, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-from-lack-of-sleep/704997/13 "2014-11-19T19:18:09Z")
I just watched the PBS special on the history of the Navy SEALs. One segment talks about “hell week” during their training, during which they are sleep deprived, physically strained to their limits and beyond and subjected to tremendous stress. One of the interviewed trainers stated that the trainees only got about 3-4 hours sleep during the entire time, and that the only reason they let them get that much is that without it there is a danger of death occurring. But perhaps that’s due to an accident because of being disoriented and exhausted, and not directly due to sleep deprivation. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2014, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-from-lack-of-sleep/704997/14 "2014-11-19T19:21:40Z")
I saw this show about Navy SEALs … 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-from-lack-of-sleep/704997/15 "2014-11-20T13:47:09Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Also: [Can you die from lack of sleep?](http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2009/05/can_you_die_from_lack_of_sleep.html) Except the article has said no one has ever died from lack of sleep which is false. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-from-lack-of-sleep/704997/16 "2014-11-20T14:22:41Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Except the article has said no one has ever died from lack of sleep which is false. It doesn’t say that. What it says is: > [@](#): > > While no human being is known to have died from staying awake, If you know of a specific case that refutes that, please provide a cite. (I assume they are referring to direct, demonstrated effects, rather than accidents that resulted in death.) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-from-lack-of-sleep/704997/17 "2014-11-20T14:45:49Z")
I don’t know about the lack of sleep issue. But the poem version we used was: _Mary had a little sheep, With the sheep she did sleep, The sheep turned out to be a ram, Mary had a little lamb._ ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-from-lack-of-sleep/704997/18 "2014-11-20T14:47:44Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > If you know of a specific case that refutes that, please provide a cite. (I assume they are referring to direct, demonstrated effects, rather than accidents that resulted in death.) Well, there was [this guy:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_familial_insomnia#Treatment) > [@Wikipedia](#): > > One of the most notable cases is that of Michael (Michel A.) Corke, a music teacher from New Lenox, Illinois (born in Watseka, Illinois). He began to have trouble sleeping before his 40th birthday in 1991; following these first signs of insomnia, his health and state of mind quickly deteriorated as his condition worsened. Eventually, sleep became completely unattainable, and he was soon admitted to University of Chicago Hospital with a misdiagnosis of clinical depression due to multiple sclerosis. Medical professionals, (Dr Raymond Roos and Dr Anthony Reder) at first unsure of the nature of his illness, initially diagnosed multiple sclerosis; in a bid to provide temporary relief in the later stages of the disease, physicians induced a coma with the use of sedatives, to no avail as his brain still failed to shut down completely. Corke died in 1993, a month after his 42nd birthday, by which time he had been completely sleep-deprived for six months. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-from-lack-of-sleep/704997/19 "2014-11-20T14:57:27Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > If you know of a specific case that refutes that, please provide a cite. (I assume they are referring to direct, demonstrated effects, rather than accidents that resulted in death.) How about anyone with fatal insomnia, either familial or sporadic as referred to previously in this thread. The most famous case would be Michael Corke. In fact it was discovered in Venice in 1765 because of the death of someone who hadn’t slept that now looks like FFI. In all of these cases, it was the lack of sleep - or rather no sleep - that killed them. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2014, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-from-lack-of-sleep/704997/20 "2014-11-20T15:52:35Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > How about anyone with fatal insomnia, either familial or sporadic as referred to previously in this thread. The most famous case would be Michael Corke. In fact it was discovered in Venice in 1765 because of the death of someone who hadn’t slept that now looks like FFI. In all of these cases, it was the lack of sleep - or rather no sleep - that killed them. Well, maybe. Thing is, an active prion disease was frying the brains of these poor bastards. Was the cause of death sleep deprivation, or was sleep deprivation a symptom of the underlying (and, eventually, fatal) neurological condition? In order to conclude that sleep deprivation is fatal in itself, we’d really want to see case studies in neurologically healthy people. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dying-from-lack-of-sleep/704997.md?page=2)