4 ms·

A WWI soldier stayed awake for 40 years after getting shot in the head?

drcode 8y ago
Extraordinary claims like this (being the only human ever reported AFAIK not requiring sleep) need extraordinary evidence, which likely are unobtainable for this anecdotal case. > His wakefulness caused headaches only when he didn't rest his eyes for at least an hour a day That seems like a loophole big enough to drive a Medium Mark C Hornet Tank through.
- LinuxBender 8y ago
  The same thing happens with lightening strikes. People get hit by the sonic blast wave or distant lines of flux and are convinced they were hit by lightening. In reality, this isn't even remotely possible. The temperature of the contact point in lightening on a human is around 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit. It does spectacular things to the body. Yet, there are often headlines of a person describing being "hit by lightening".
  - theoh 8y ago
    "Lightning".
  - DFHippie 8y ago
    I know this is annoying, but I'm going to take this occasion to point out that "lightening" and "lightning" are different things (and have a different number of syllables). The former is basically "the causing of lightness". One definition is "the sensation, experienced by many women late in pregnancy when the head of the fetus enters the pelvis, of a reduction in pressure on the diaphragm, making it easier to breathe" (https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/lightening https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/lighten...). The latter is the meteorological phenomenon. Cool observation, though.
    - LinuxBender 8y ago
      Apologies, I often skip spell checking and my fingers have a different idea of how some things should be formed. I shall tighten my Cilice [1] to position number 3 today. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cilice https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cilice j/k just trying to put an image of a monk in your mind. :-)
- dang 8y ago
  Ok, we'll add a questionability mark above.
- miles 8y ago
  > being the only human ever reported AFAIK not requiring sleep There’s also Thái Ngọc: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thái_Ng%E1%BB%8Dc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thái_Ng%E1%BB%8Dc
ydnaclementine 8y ago
Sounds like an xmen. This can't be reproduced on rats? (remove that bit of the brain)
- kenny87 8y ago
  Season 2 Episode 4 of The X-Files.
hprotagonist 8y ago
Randy Gardner didn’t sleep for 11 days and 25 minutes, under observation, at age 17. This is the longest verified time spent awake by a human. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Gardner_(record_holder) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Gardner_(record_holder)
- bhhaskin 8y ago
  Super interesting. It really just goes to show how very little we actually know about sleep. Thanks for sharing!
- rofo1 8y ago
  My personal "record" is little above 5 full days, without sleeping even a single minute. Without going into details, I had a traumatic event and I couldn't fall asleep. Interestingly, I didn't feel that tired. On the last day, I even exercised. I felt mentally slower, though, for sure. Like operating at 50% intelligence. People that don't sleep for prolonged periods of time will eventually die [0]. No way around it. It's one of the reasons that Guinness World Records banned sleep deprivation records. [0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_insomnia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_insomnia
  - solveit 8y ago
    While I'm sure that sleep deprivation will eventually kill you (although I'm not sure if it's at all possible to keep someone from sleeping to that extent), insomnia isn't what kills you in fatal familial insomnia. The killer is prions turning your brain to mush and turning you first into a vegetable, then killing you.
    - perl4ever 8y ago
      It seems (perhaps too) obvious to me, that if sleep didn't perform some vital function in maintaining the body and/or brain, then evolution would have eliminated it due to the disadvantage of being vulnerable and inactive for a large part of the day.
  - 8y ago
aaron695 8y ago
This article from 1938 is a bit funnier https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/219414411 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/219414411 "It has been proved repeatedly by tests and experiments that Kern has never actually fallen asleep during this hour of rest. For one thing, the pipe which he keeps smoking even during that, hour, is seen glowing in the dark. " And although there's a lot of BS going on here with 80 year old medicine and medical stories this just sound like a old wives tale. Would it actually be true? "His wakefulness caused headaches only when he didn't rest his eyes for at least an hour a day in order to give his optic nerve a much-needed break." [pic of him smoking his pipe in bed, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/139904931 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/139904931]

Extraordinary claims like this (being the only human ever reported AFAIK not requiring sleep) need extraordinary evidence, which likely are unobtainable for this anecdotal case. > His wakefulness caused headaches only when he didn't rest his eyes for at least an hour a day That seems like a loophole big enough to drive a Medium Mark C Hornet Tank through.

LinuxBender 8y ago
The same thing happens with lightening strikes. People get hit by the sonic blast wave or distant lines of flux and are convinced they were hit by lightening. In reality, this isn't even remotely possible. The temperature of the contact point in lightening on a human is around 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit. It does spectacular things to the body. Yet, there are often headlines of a person describing being "hit by lightening".
- theoh 8y ago
  "Lightning".
- DFHippie 8y ago
  I know this is annoying, but I'm going to take this occasion to point out that "lightening" and "lightning" are different things (and have a different number of syllables). The former is basically "the causing of lightness". One definition is "the sensation, experienced by many women late in pregnancy when the head of the fetus enters the pelvis, of a reduction in pressure on the diaphragm, making it easier to breathe" (https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/lightening https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/lighten...). The latter is the meteorological phenomenon. Cool observation, though.
  - LinuxBender 8y ago
    Apologies, I often skip spell checking and my fingers have a different idea of how some things should be formed. I shall tighten my Cilice [1] to position number 3 today. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cilice https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cilice j/k just trying to put an image of a monk in your mind. :-)
dang 8y ago
Ok, we'll add a questionability mark above.
miles 8y ago
> being the only human ever reported AFAIK not requiring sleep There’s also Thái Ngọc: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thái_Ng%E1%BB%8Dc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thái_Ng%E1%BB%8Dc

ydnaclementine 8y ago

Sounds like an xmen. This can't be reproduced on rats? (remove that bit of the brain)

kenny87 8y ago
Season 2 Episode 4 of The X-Files.

hprotagonist 8y ago

Randy Gardner didn’t sleep for 11 days and 25 minutes, under observation, at age 17. This is the longest verified time spent awake by a human. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Gardner_(record_holder) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Gardner_(record_holder)

bhhaskin 8y ago
Super interesting. It really just goes to show how very little we actually know about sleep. Thanks for sharing!
rofo1 8y ago
My personal "record" is little above 5 full days, without sleeping even a single minute. Without going into details, I had a traumatic event and I couldn't fall asleep. Interestingly, I didn't feel that tired. On the last day, I even exercised. I felt mentally slower, though, for sure. Like operating at 50% intelligence. People that don't sleep for prolonged periods of time will eventually die [0]. No way around it. It's one of the reasons that Guinness World Records banned sleep deprivation records. [0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_insomnia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_insomnia
- solveit 8y ago
  While I'm sure that sleep deprivation will eventually kill you (although I'm not sure if it's at all possible to keep someone from sleeping to that extent), insomnia isn't what kills you in fatal familial insomnia. The killer is prions turning your brain to mush and turning you first into a vegetable, then killing you.
  - perl4ever 8y ago
    It seems (perhaps too) obvious to me, that if sleep didn't perform some vital function in maintaining the body and/or brain, then evolution would have eliminated it due to the disadvantage of being vulnerable and inactive for a large part of the day.
- 8y ago

aaron695 8y ago

This article from 1938 is a bit funnier https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/219414411 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/219414411 "It has been proved repeatedly by tests and experiments that Kern has never actually fallen asleep during this hour of rest. For one thing, the pipe which he keeps smoking even during that, hour, is seen glowing in the dark. " And although there's a lot of BS going on here with 80 year old medicine and medical stories this just sound like a old wives tale. Would it actually be true? "His wakefulness caused headaches only when he didn't rest his eyes for at least an hour a day in order to give his optic nerve a much-needed break." [pic of him smoking his pipe in bed, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/139904931 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/139904931]