Vietnamese Man 33 years without sleep

[Sashatheman]

Vietnam Man Handles Three Decades Without Sleep

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

 

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.

 

Proving his health, the elderly resident of Que Trung commune, Que Son district said he can carry two 50kg bags of fertilizer down 4km of road to return home every day.

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His wife said, “My husband used to sleep well, but these days, even liquor cannot put him down.”

 

She said when Ngoc went to Da Nang for a medical examination, doctors gave him a clean bill of health, except a minor decline in liver function.

 

Ngoc currently lives on his 5ha farm at the foot of a mountain busy with farming and taking care of pigs and chickens all day. His six children live at their house in Que Trung.

 

“I have tried sleeping pills and Vietnamese traditional medicine but nothing helps, even to sleep for a few minutes,” he said.

 

 

Creature of the night

 

Ngoc often does extra farm work or guards his farm at night to prevent theft, saying he used three months of sleepless nights to dig two large ponds to raise fish.

 

Neighbor Vu said Ngoc volunteered to help beat a drum during the night and guard the house for the relatives of the dead during funeral ceremonies so that they could take a nap.

 

Vu also said when the commune was planting sugar cane, several people also asked Ngoc to awaken them at midnight to go to work, since he was up anyway.

 

On Ngoc’s prolonged insomnia, Phan Ngoc Ha, director of the Hoa Khanh Mental Hospital in Danang said sleep disorders often cause anorexia, lethargy, and irritability.

 

But, in special cases, some people can handle it and still live and work normally, although this was a very small ratio among insomniacs, Ha added.

 

http://www.rapidnewswire.com/sleepless.htm

[O Sigh Ruz]

The most I ever did was 6 days, but thats insane.

[aj47]

With extreme isomniacs, apparantly thier bodies circadian cycle can adjust and they can make up for the lack of sleep with somthing called microsleep. This is when the person falls asleep for a few seconds and then reawakes unconcious of the fact that they had fallen asleep.

 

Anyway you would think he would get really bored at night with no one around and nothing to do.

[Sashatheman]

ide just play computer games everynight as i do already . But then actually do sometihng productive in the day , instead of catching up on lost sleep

[Giacomo525]

It would be my dream come true. Imagine all those nights not wasted where I could be actually learning something. Then again, I do love my sleep. Second best to sex...

[Sashatheman]

sleep feels only good if you need it. i think if there was some way of making others not sleep, then it would create a much time to do things.

[[Tycho?]]

I'd be quite skeptical of that, but true or not its would be neat to get the guy into a lab to see why his brain is totally different from not only humans, but most other living beings.

[JustStuit]

I think they should observe him and take an MRI or something. It would be interesting to see what's going on in his body.

[silkworm]

There's actually a story like this that I have seen in a few general (basic) psychology textbooks. I'm really fuzzy on the specifics, but there's a story of a man who was born without a chemical in your brain necessary for sleep, so he lived his life without ever sleeping. He suffered from severe emotional problems and ended up killing himself in his early 30s.

 

I wonder about the nature of this man's fever, and how he rests. He must somehow, or wouldn't his muscles break down eventually?

[[Tycho?]]

There's actually a story like this that I have seen in a few general (basic) psychology textbooks. I'm really fuzzy on the specifics' date=' but there's a story of a man who was born without a chemical in your brain necessary for sleep, so he lived his life without ever sleeping. He suffered from severe emotional problems and ended up killing himself in his early 30s.

 

I wonder about the nature of this man's fever, and how he rests. He must somehow, or wouldn't his muscles break down eventually?[/quote']

 

His muscles would be the least of his worries. While muscles regenerate more quickly and more completely while asleep, they will still do so as long as they're not moving. So if the guy were to lay down without sleeping his muscles would be ok.

 

The longest record of going without sleep that can be confirmed is 11 days, after which the person who was not getting sleep wasn't even really conscious anymore, most of his high order brain functions were so far gone as to be useless (he recovred completely after lots of sleep though). Rats that have been artificially kept awake have actually died due to sleep deprivation, their brains were no longer able to maintian a constant metabolism, there body temperature started to vary, then they died.

 

Now, some people dont need much sleep. But everyone needs some sleep. As far as I know every single mammal sleeps. I am extremely skeptical of the man going for 30 years without sleep. Take him into a lab, and watch him for say 20 days. I'd bet you'd find that he actually does sleep, perhaps not much, but I would bet he sleeps.

[Guest ecardica]

I don't see how that could be beneficial towards his health. Although it could be useful for further research.

[-Demosthenes-]

It seems like if he ever did fall asleep he would just lapse into a comma.

 

My friend stayed up for 72 hours, he was pretty messed up. I could only make it through one night, the next day I fell asleep (I think). It was probably the closest to being intoxicated I've been It's was weird, I don't remember much from the next day. I had gaps in my memory, I was pretty messed up. I guess I need sleep more than some people