Why shouldn’t you sleep after hitting your head?
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The risk after a blow to the head (concussion etc) is that the brain swells or there is a bleed within the skull, raising pressure on the brain.
The brain is largely enclosed by the skull, except for where it attaches to the spinal cord, so the risk is that the increased pressure tries to push the brain out through this little hole, with catastrophic (fatal) results.
So you are not supposed to sleep following a head injury because you might die in your sleep. If you remain conscious then warning signs of this happening can be caught
Edit: I don’t know how likely this scenario is, I’m not medical personnel. But this is the idea behind keeping head trauma victims conscious.
Edit2:. As others clarify below the sleeping is incidental and masks any developing problems. Sleep itself is not a damaging factor
It’s a myth. People used to think that perhaps it could lead to a patient slipping into a coma and eventually dying. In reality they were going to slip into a coma and die already. Sleeping played no part in that process.
When you hit your head you are at risk of losing consciousness inadvertently. This is a sign that you hitting your head was serious and that life saving measures may need to be taken. Something like your brain is bleeding inside your skull.
If a patient goes to sleep on their own, it’s difficult to tell if it is just the patient going to sleep or if they lost consciousness due to their brain bleeding in their skull.
So there’s lots of information here that’s all answering your question but just saying a “bleed” and leaving it. With head trauma as mentioned it can cause some of the smaller blood vessels outside of the brain and under the skull to rupture. These vessels are pretty small and only carry a small amount of blood in them. So this bleed won’t be immediately noticeable. The blood can continue to slowly leak out and since the blood can’t really go anywhere, it accumulated and starts to push on the brain. This bleed can continue to accumulate and hours later it can cause them to fall unconscious because of the pressure it’s putting on the brain. There is risk of herniation like someone mentioned, but that’s not always what’s causing the person to be unconscious in the first place.
At that point it is a medical emergency and they would need to be seen ASAP because that blood would need to be removed somehow (likely surgically). So that is why they say to watch someone after they have hit their head because they can get up and think they are fine, but then later they pass out or don’t wake up. These types of injuries are not common but are still a concern when people hit their head hard enough.
It’s complete nonsense. There’s an idea that somehow after a significant head injury you can will yourself to stay awake and prevent falling into unconsciousness. You can’t.
However, if you’re looking after someone who has had a head injury it’s helpful because then you can distinguish between them being just tired rather than becoming unconscious from the head trauma. However, if the trauma is bad enough to worry about this then you’re better going to an emergency department and having a ct scan.
Hints that you have had a significant injury: mechanism of injury, age of patient and any medication that increases bleeding, any history of liver problems or significant chronic alcohol consumption, loss of consciousness or losing consciousness 2 hours later, seizures, nausea and vomiting, and in children amnesia. Also, fractured skull, clear fluid leaking out of ears, eyes like a panda or brusing just behind the ears (battle’s sign).
ER rn here, the data on this does not suggest that you will have a worse outcome if you sleep after a head injury. The logic previously was that you had people who fell asleep and died after a head injury, so if you kept them awake instead they’d have a better outcome. All of the data suggests that is wrong.
Really where there is a different outcome is in cases people seek medical attention or don’t. Bob Saget might have survived if he had gone to the hospital, but it’s not like if he stayed home awake all night he would have survived.
The general recommendation for people with a head injury is to get plenty of rest- whether they need or seek medical attention is a separate question (that may require waking them up periodically)
My understanding of it is because your being awake allows for someone else (even someone untrained) to notice something wrong. Are you slurring your words? Did you stumble when walking? You (the injured person) may not notice this but someone else will, and they are indicators that something is seriously wrong. If you are asleep the other person loses the ability to evaluate the extent of the injury.
I believe that now sleep is ok after a concussion to let the brain rest. Isn’t the no sleep thing an old theory? I was at the hospital with my dad after a fall and that’s what I was told. That sleeping to rest the brain is the newer method.
You shouldn’t sleep right after a head injury because it would be impossible to tell if you are asleep or unconscious and dying from either swollen brain or internal bleeding.
Neurosurgeon here. One of the most serious injuries after a head trauma is called an epidural hematoma (EDH). Basically a hemorrhage between the skull and the duramáter (a leather-like membrane that covers and protects the brain). In EDH there’s a phenomenon called a lucid period in which a person hits their head, briefly loses consciousness or has concussion-like symptoms only to be fully awake and aware for a brief period of time (therefore “lucid” period) and then loses consciousness again and quickly declines and dies shortly thereafter. If you go to sleep in that lucid period no one will notice you lose consciousness again (because you’re asleep) and then never wake up.
Sleep does not do any harm, per se. It’s the fact that no one can tell you’re having any neurological deficit that quickly leads to long term problems and death
Edit: thanks for the awards!! My very first.
PSA: if you hit your head and lose consciousness or aren’t completely oriented to time (day of the week, date), place (where are you) and person (your name), please seek immediate medical attention, even if you regain consciousness and feel fine shortly after
seems that [Bob Sagat](https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/09/entertainment/bob-saget-cause-of-death/index.html) got bumped on the head, went to bed and never woke up
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