Friday, February 17, 2006

I'd love to do a sleep study on this guy

The Drudge Report links to this story about a Vietnamese man who hasn't slept since 1973:
You’d think going without sleep for that long may have its drawbacks, but not for the man in central Quang Nam province who has never been ill after decades of insomnia.
His inability to sleep has not only made him famous, but also represents a “miraculous” phenomenon worthy of scientific study.
Sixty-four-year-old Thai Ngoc, known as Hai Ngoc, said he could not sleep at night after getting a fever in 1973, and has counted infinite numbers of sheep during more than 11,700 consecutive sleepless nights.
“I don’t know whether the insomnia has impacted my health or not. But I’m still healthy and can farm normally like others,” Ngoc said.

Insomnia frequently occurs after brain injury (usually by trauma, but fever and infectious disease can also cause brain injury). However, I am not aware of any medically-documented cases of total insomnia. I do not believe this story, he must drift off into sleep at some point during the 24-hour day.
A recent movie dealt with this topic.

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