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Weekend


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September 13, 2002

Strange But True!

  • A weekly column of incidental information, off-the-wall observations and other random facts about the world.
    • By BILL SONES and RICH SONES, Ph.D.
    Special to the Journal

    Q. "He died peacefully in his sleep," people will say. But isn't this just a euphemism? Wouldn't dying normally be enough to rudely awaken a person, at least briefly?

    A. Of all the myths surrounding death, dying peacefully in one's sleep appears to be the one that nearly always is true, says University of Arizona emergency medicine specialist Kenneth V. Iserson, author of "Death to Dust: What Happens to Dead Bodies?" Most of these deaths are from the heart failing to beat normally (cardiac arrhythmias), effectively stopping blood flow to the brain. Immediate unconsciousness follows and, since the individuals are already asleep, they would have no awareness that they have passed from sleep to coma to death.


     
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