Can lack of sleep actually kill a person?

I don’t think it’s directly fatal. At some point I think you’d just shut down. But the stress results in high blood pressure and increased health risks that would give you a shot at death indirectly..

You would probably just passout eventually.

Yes. I read an article about it. Scientists don’t know why, exactly, but if a person were to stay awake for about a month, they would die from lack of sleep. Of course, a normal person would just pass out before that and get what they need, but it was an article about a disease that makes it impossible to sleep. Scientists have found no cure. Luckily, it’s extremely rare. But it generally claims it’s victims within a month.

I don’t see why it wouldn’t kill someone

I don’t remember the name of the disorder but there are a small number of people who have a fatal disorder that, at some point in their lives, they lose the ability to sleep. When this happens they only live for a few months. This disorder is always fatal and doctors, from what I can recall, are trying to puzzle out exactly why the lack of sleep kills.

Perhaps some keen jellies can find the name of the disorder.

Yes. From Slate:

“No—extended bouts of sleeplessness can cause an array of physical symptoms and might eventually kill you. The effects begin within the first 24 hours of sleep deprivation. First, the body undergoes subtle hormonal changes—cortisol and TSH levels increase, leading to a rise in blood pressure. A day or two later, it stops metabolizing glucose properly, creating carbohydrate cravings. A person’s body temperature will also drop, and his or her immune response becomes somewhat suppressed. All of these physiological changes are reversible, though—take a nap, and you’ll be on the road back to normal.

It’s possible that given enough time, sleep deprivation can kill you.”

Found it: Fatal Familial Insomnia.

Yes.

Good job tranquilsea. That sounds like a really crappy way to go.

@Adirondackwannabe as a temporary insomniac I cannot imagine the terror of knowing what is going to befall you. I’ve had times in my life where I’ve not been able to sleep for 4 or 5 days and I started hallucinating. It is terrifying. What a horrifying way to die.

Here’s a short news story on the family that carries this gene variation.

@tranquilsea beat me to it. I was gonna mention that one. Also, there have been animal studies that keep rats and mice up until they die. :(

Here is a brief account of a sleep deprivation experiment on rats

Robert Urich used to host a show called Vital Signs that told interesting medical stories. I saw a story once about a guy who had all kinds of awful
neurological symptoms. After
a bunch of tests they found out
he wasn’t getting any real sleep. They gave him sleeping
pills but his body built up an
immunity to them. His
condition and symptoms got worse and worse until he finally died. I thought of that story often during all those sleepless months with my newborns.

I would think it probably has something to do with the fact that your body does most of its repairs during sleep. There is also the fact that you would suffer extreme emotional stress and I’m sure extreme stress, long term would probably give you a heart attack. Your cortisol levels would probably go through the roof and cause high blood pressure along. It will also ruin other hormones that help run different functions of your body.
I would imagine you probably will also loose brain cells that are needed for other body functions as well.