# If hung upside down and left that way would you eventually die? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 1, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-hung-upside-down-and-left-that-way-would-you-eventually-die/604665 "2011-12-01T03:52:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![\_v\_l\_3\_V](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/dc4da7/32.png) [@\_v\_l\_3\_V](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_v_l_3_V)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-hung-upside-down-and-left-that-way-would-you-eventually-die/604665/1 "2011-12-01T03:52:17Z")
other than dehydration and starvation. ---
**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:** [December 1, 2011, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-hung-upside-down-and-left-that-way-would-you-eventually-die/604665/2 "2011-12-01T04:07:24Z")
Moderator Note **/v@l] [!3/V+!+**, you’ve now started four threads in GQ in two hours. While your enthusiasm is nice, let’s slow down a bit and check how the others do before starting others. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-hung-upside-down-and-left-that-way-would-you-eventually-die/604665/3 "2011-12-01T05:12:14Z")
Yes, you are describing a form of crucifixion. The muscles used for breathing would become fatigued and you would suffocate. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-hung-upside-down-and-left-that-way-would-you-eventually-die/604665/4 "2011-12-01T05:37:01Z")
The Wikipedia on Unit 731, which I read because of a different thread, stated they choked to death. The cite they supplied was: Christopher Hudson (2 March 2007). “Doctors of Depravity”. Daily Mail. I haven’t read the cite ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-hung-upside-down-and-left-that-way-would-you-eventually-die/604665/5 "2011-12-01T05:49:22Z")
Yes, you would die eventually. On the other hand, if you were sitting in a comfortable chair, with time allowed to eat, sleep and exercise, you would still eventually die, humans being mortal and all. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-hung-upside-down-and-left-that-way-would-you-eventually-die/604665/6 "2011-12-01T09:14:16Z")
> [@cornflakes](#): > > Yes, you are describing a form of crucifixion. The muscles used for breathing would become fatigued and you would suffocate. No cite (for now), but IIRC the cause of death in such a situation is actually heart failure ([pulmonary edema](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulmonary_edema)) - basically the heart can’t keep working against gravity and eventually begins to fail at moving blood out of the lungs, i.e. eventually, the victims’ lungs fill up with water. ETA - [a not-so-authoritative cite](http://www.wydaily.com/blogs/dr-decipher/3492-dr-decipher-its-deadly-to-be-upside-down.html) ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-hung-upside-down-and-left-that-way-would-you-eventually-die/604665/7 "2011-12-01T18:15:25Z")
We have one-way valves in our veins which prevent pooling of blood. They, of course, are oriented to work when we are right side up. They are useless when we are upside-down. I figure, depending on the fitness of the individual, prolonged inversion could rupture cerebral blood vessels, causing a stroke. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-hung-upside-down-and-left-that-way-would-you-eventually-die/604665/8 "2011-12-01T18:38:55Z")
If you’re hung the opposite of normal for more than four hours even after you “die”, consult a physician. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-hung-upside-down-and-left-that-way-would-you-eventually-die/604665/9 "2011-12-01T19:45:06Z")
> [@cornflakes](#): > > Yes, you are describing a form of crucifixion. The muscles used for breathing would become fatigued and you would suffocate. Crucifixion involves binding someone to a cross. I don’t see how merely binding their feet somewhere above their head counts as “a form of crucifixion”, since no cross is necessary. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-hung-upside-down-and-left-that-way-would-you-eventually-die/604665/10 "2011-12-01T20:27:35Z")
I dunno about the dying part, but I’ve hung upside down for various reasons. IME you’d probably become unconsious pretty soon. After that, the actual dying is just a formality. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-hung-upside-down-and-left-that-way-would-you-eventually-die/604665/11 "2011-12-01T20:38:21Z")
That happened to a guy I heard of once. But he was able to get his lightsabre and free himself, phew. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-hung-upside-down-and-left-that-way-would-you-eventually-die/604665/12 "2011-12-03T02:54:06Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > No cite (for now), but IIRC the cause of death in such a situation is actually heart failure ([pulmonary edema](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulmonary_edema)) - basically the heart can’t keep working against gravity and eventually begins to fail at moving blood out of the lungs, i.e. eventually, the victims’ lungs fill up with water. > > ETA - [a not-so-authoritative cite](http://www.wydaily.com/blogs/dr-decipher/3492-dr-decipher-its-deadly-to-be-upside-down.html) Here’s something that supports heart failure as the mechanism. Pulmonary edema isn’t stated (I assume that it would follow): > [@Forensic Pathology Reviews](#): > > Thus, it would appear that death in a head-down position is a death of gradual (occasionally sudden) heart failure and not a kind of cerebral death or death by suffocation (“aphyxia”). Of course, aphyxia should be discussed as an additional factor influencing lethal outcome in cases where the victim is caught in very tight openings of similar stuctures that prevent proper breathing by thorax compression. > **[Forensic Pathology Reviews Vol 3](https://books.google.com/books?id=hXmOUQmFtR4C&lpg=PA152&ots=ZgGmonWlO0&dq=crucifixion%2Bsuspension%2Binverted%2Bdeath&pg=PA152&hl=en)** > > A collection of cutting-edge accounts of special topics from various fields of forensic pathology and death scene investigation. The authors offer critical insight into the medicolegal investigation of bodies found in water, the forensic aspects of...