46
Its not the lack of sleep that kills you, it is the stress on your body from not sleeping for long periods of time causing things like heart failure and aneurysms.
I thought they discovered that most sleeping pills block adenosine clearance. That would mean that adenosine would still build up and you would eventually sleep excessively
From what I've heard it is actually hard to fall asleep after an extended time of being awake. I doubt the one mechanism discussed here is enough to explain all that is going on while sleep deprived.
"Fatal insomnia is an extremely rare neurodegenerative prion disease that results in trouble sleeping as its hallmark symptom."
Fatal insomnia is a misnomer. It's a prion disease that literally eats away at the brain including the part of the brain that controls respiration and temperature. My point is the adenosine waste levels in the brain (fun fact, adenosine is what makes us feel sleepy or even start hallucinating if we've been awake too long, caffeine blocks the receptors of this waste product) would cause unconsciousness before they became fatal. I've never heard of anyone not being able to go unconscious.
I mean, yeah sure, but do either long enough and you're probably gonna have some permanent neurological damage
this post was submitted on 15 May 2025
46 points (100.0% liked)
Showerthoughts
34272 readers
813 users here now
A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
- Both “200” and “160” are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When you’re a kid, you don’t realize you’re also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
Rules
- All posts must be showerthoughts
- The entire showerthought must be in the title
- No politics
- If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
- A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
- Posts must be original/unique
- Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS
If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.
Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS