Can a healthy man die while Sleeping ?

Have you ever heard of a news where a healthy man in his 30s dies while sleeping. Such incidents have attracted the medical community to look into such reports. While some people say that most of such cases have some already existing medical disorder related to heart or breathing pattern, but some medical examinations showed that no such thing occurred. It made some people believe that it might have happened due to some nightmare. Betterhealthfacts.com researched on this topic and found some interesting information that will be shared with you in this article.

Is there any scientific name given to such sleeping death ?
Yes, such deaths have occurred in different parts of world and different medical terms are given to these least understood death. Some of the names are:
Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome (SADS)
Sudden Adult Death Syndrome
Sudden Unexpected/Unexplained Death Syndrome (SUDS)
Sudden Unexpected/Unexplained Nocturnal Death Syndrome (SUNDS)

Does this syndrome occur only in a particular ethnic group ?
This syndrome can't be attributed to a particular ethinicity, mostly it occurs with people connected to southeast Asia. Medical practitioners believe that it occurs only in those populations which are culturally and genetically distinct and they have to leave their origin and get settled as refugees in other parts of world. Filipinos and Chinese immigrants in the Philippines, Japanese in Japan, and natives of Guam in the United States and Guam and Southeast Asian immigrants, who were mostly fleeing the Vietnam War were the most affected people by this mysterious syndrome.

Whats the medical reasons behind such Deaths ?
Researchers tried to figure out the reason but even after intensive research no particular reason was found. Some researchers believe that its related to body's failure to accurately coordinate electrical signals to heart which makes heart to stop beating. Most of the people who died were just near the age of 33 and seemingly healthy. So it made it hard to believe that how can such failure occur in a healthy person.

Is it connected to Acute Pancreatitis 
Acute Pancreatitis is medical term, where the victim ingests a lot of food (rich in carbohydrate of fat) with large amount of alcoholic beverages before going to sleep. But no research on the victims of SUDS proved this fact. Researched done by some American medical research teams didn't connect Acute Pancreatitis with SUDS.

Superstition connected to such deaths

  • Bangungot: In Philippines they believe in mythological creature called batibat or bangungot. It is a hag like mythological creature which sits on victims face or chest and suffocate him to death. Victim may feel paralysis at that moment. The only way to save yourself from that condition is to bite your own tongue or wiggling your toes to get out of paralysis and suffocation.
  • Evil Spirit: Filipinos believe that its a bad spirit of a jealous women who sits on chest of a men and suffocates him to death. Due to this reason some Filipinos men dress as women before going to sleep to avoid the attention of that spirit.
  • Lack of Worship: Hmong people believe that if they don't worship properly and don't offer sacrifice to their ancestors spirits who use to protect them, then evil spirits reach them through nightmare and kill by sleep paralysis and pressure on chest.


One thing common in these superstitions are paralysis and pressure on chest. Mostly men are killed by this syndrome. These factors might make some of you believe in these superstitions but we don't approve you to do so. Medical science has given answers to a number of mysteries and we hope that it will be solved soon.

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