Word: asleep
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When falling asleep, a healthy person may experience an alarming jerk that brings him suddenly wide awake, often with the vivid impression of a frightening dream, e.g., one involving a fall. Many peopie ask their physicians about these jerks, get some such explanation as, "It's your muscles relaxing suddenly as you unwind." This explanation sometimes helps, but it makes no scientific sense. The fact is, medical science knows little about the phenomenon...
...activity in the brain, and disturbances in the heartbeat and breathing. Dr. Oswald reports in Brain that his first jerk-recording subject was a healthy, athletic type of 22, with no history of head injury or brain damage. But he had several such jerks nearly every night while falling asleep in a normal setting, and usually had one if he sneaked a nap on the job. Often he had a sensation of something "hot and bright" flowing through his body...
...dangerous driver because a "close shave" would wake him and he had not yet had a serious accident. One of the sons had been disciplined in the Army for sleeping on duty, became a truck driver (he kept the windows open even in winter to stay awake); he fell asleep twice during the Mayo interview. One of his sisters has the knack of napping while standing...
...Highway. In the abundant fourth generation (57 members), the doctors ignored all under 15 because narcolepsy is a tricky diagnosis in the young. Still, they found several cases. Their first patient's 20-year-old son had the not surprising habit of falling asleep in church, but carried it to the extreme of doing so while serving as an altar boy. Recently he was fired for sleeping on his job. and he has already had two serious accidents, in one of which he demolished...
...Their explanation of its inheritance: it "appears to be transmitted as a simple dominant factor with a high degree of penetrance." For the reassurance of road users in the Rochester area; the doctors record hopefully that in the severe cases, including most of the drivers, the tendency to fall asleep has been checked with daily doses of methylphenidate, a mild stimulant and antidepressant...