Fatigue is one of the top two causes of sudden death
Recently, the news that a 22-year-old girl from Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province died of a sudden illness after being admitted to the ICU after staying up late and working overtime for four or five consecutive days has attracted attention.
It is understood that the girl just graduated and worked in a company network operation not long after graduation. When he was sent to the emergency room, he lost consciousness. Further examination revealed that he had lost his heartbeat and breathing, and his skin had turned purple. The doctor diagnosed it as “sudden death caused by myocarditis”.
The girl’s father left a message under the video account of @Lu Xiao’s emergency diary, saying, “My child finally left us two lonely old people on July 26, 2022, thank you for this After a period of help, I hope that all the children and all the good-hearted people must take good care of their bodies, and take care of themselves after working hard! Thank you everyone.”
According to Jimu News, the girl’s father said that the girl told him before her death, “I’m so tired and it’s hard to breathe [1].”
At about 22:00 on July 29, the Human Resources and Social Security Bureau of Binjiang District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province issued a notice that among the girls’ attendance records for the 10 days before the sick leave, there were 6 days of night live broadcasts. The situation, however, was scheduled for compensatory leave the next day.
Many people feel sorry for the passing of the newly graduated girl. At the same time, as a doctor, Hu Yang, the deputy chief physician of the Department of Respiratory Medicine, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital Affiliated to Tongji University, said in July 2022 in his personal The public account “Respiratory Doctor Hu Yang” said, “I found a little detail that everyone didn’t notice. This girl had a cold and chest tightness before she started staying up late. A cold is an inconspicuous disease, but a cold may cause Some complications, such as myocarditis, are a very dangerous one.”
Hu Yang reminded that most patients with myocarditis can get better with rest and drugs that nourish the myocardium, but staying up late at this time may aggravate myocardial damage or even lead to fatal arrhythmias. So even if you have to stay up late, don’t stay up all night continuously, but my advice to everyone is that if you have a cold, especially if you have chest tightness, don’t stay up for a minute at night, you may end up with a long life [2].
There is such a pattern behind sudden death
Sudden deaths often occur suddenly, but in fact, all sudden deaths are not sudden, but “premeditated.”
1. Fatigue is one of the two major causes of sudden death
A study published in the journal “China Emergency Medicine” in 2020 analyzed 5,516 cases of sudden death and found that the main causes of sudden death were emotional agitation (26%) and fatigue (25%). ), followed by changes in blood volume, alcohol consumption, satiety, and minor injuries [3].
Figure 1
2. The most common occurrence is sudden cardiac death, including coronary heart disease, myocarditis, etc.
In a study of 5516 cases of sudden death, it was found that the first cause was sudden cardiac death (57.76%), and the second was sudden pulmonary death (21.63%). Cardiogenic diseases include coronary heart disease, cardiomyopathy, sudden arrhythmic death syndrome, myocarditis, etc., of which 320 people died suddenly due to myocarditis [3].
Among those who recorded symptoms, the most common symptoms were sudden, resting sleep, vomiting, dyspnea, chest tightness and sweating, dizziness, chest pain, abdominal pain, convulsions , headache, palpitations, cough, disturbance of consciousness, etc. [3].
Figure 2 Clinical presentation
3. Young and middle-aged people are more prone to sudden death, and the heart does not form a compensatory protection mechanism
The study found that middle-aged adults between the ages of 30 and 63 were the most common age group for sudden cardiac death. In addition, among the 15-31-year-old sudden death, the common causes are cardiomyopathy, myocarditis, and coronary heart disease.
Associate Professor Chen Haixu of the Second Medical Center of the People’s Liberation Army General Hospital pointed out in 2021 that compared with the elderly, young people are more likely to die suddenly when they have a myocardial infarction. For young people, because the heart has not formed a compensatory protective mechanism, many people have acute myocardial infarction induced malignant arrhythmia. For example, ventricular fibrillation is equivalent to cardiac arrest, causing sudden loss of consciousness and sudden death [4].
4. Sudden death is also more likely to occur late at night
Guo Jihong, the chief physician of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Peking University People’s Hospital, stated in 2013 that for the human body, the sympathetic nerve “works the day shift” during the day, the vagus nerve “works the night shift” at night, and the early morning happens to be the When the two kinds of nerves “take over”, the vagus nerve is exhausted after a night shift, while the new sympathetic nerve is in a highly excited state. Sympathetic nerve excitation can lead to rapid heartbeat, increased myocardial contractility, ectopic rhythm, etc., which may induce various cardiovascular events such as arrhythmia, Brugada syndrome (an inherited cardiomyopathy), and even sudden death [5].
Avoid sudden death and do these 3 things well!
1. KnowDon’t Sudden Death Signal, Not Without a Trace
Chen Luyuan, chief physician of the Department of Cardiology of Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, pointed out in 2019 that most of them had clinical symptoms a few days before sudden death.
For example: transient chest tightness, chest pain, fatigue, palpitation, this kind of palpitation is the sudden sinking of the body, or the feeling of flickering, the time is about three or five minutes, it is very It’s almost over, and it’s back to normal naturally. In particular, unexplained fainting, such as difficulty breathing, restlessness, profuse sweating, abnormal snoring, etc. while in bed or sleeping. In this week or so, the above situation may occur [6].
2. Don’t stay up late, get enough sleep
Ma Shuai, Emergency Department of Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, said in 2019 that staying up late is indeed the cause of sudden death for some people. Most people who stay up late and die suddenly die of a sudden heart attack. Staying up late leads to disturbance of the biological clock, over-excited sympathetic nerves, which accelerates the heartbeat, causes ventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation, and causes sudden cardiac death. Others die from strokes, caused by high blood pressure that ruptures blood vessels in the brain. But staying up late is not the root cause of sudden death. People with a family history of sudden death are at high risk of sudden death by staying up late. For ordinary people, staying up late also increases the risk of sudden cardiac death [7].
3. Don’t be too tired, learn to relax under pressure
First, don’t let yourself get too tired when you work and study, you must leave time to relax, and don’t sit for a long time. A 2021 report on the health effects of overwork, published in Environment International, found that people who work 55 hours or more per week suffer from unemployment compared to the standard workweek of 35-40 hours per week. Higher risk of bloody heart disease and stroke. Undoubtedly increase the risk of sudden death [8].
Second, rest is not necessarily sleep, such as reading, singing, walking, practicing calligraphy, and doing little things that make you feel happy and relax your body and mind. Occasionally being busy recently and resulting in too little sleep time does not mean that the brain is not resting. Learning to relax and allowing one’s body and mind to get adequate rest is more important than falling asleep or not falling asleep [9].
References:
[1]2022-07-27 Jimu News “The 22-year-old girl stayed up all night working overtime and died suddenly, father: I hope all children will work hard to take care of themselves outside”
[2]2022-07-28 Respiratory doctor Hu Yang “The sudden death of a 22-year-old girl after overtime, an inconspicuous detail that needs attention, is the prelude to the sudden death of staying up late”
[3]Zhao Zhimei, Chen Xiaosong, Yang Yijun, Du Pengju, Zhou Panhao. Epidemiological analysis of 5516 cases of sudden death by autopsy in my country [J]. China Emergency Medicine, 2020, 40(2): 158-163.
[4]2021-01-03 Popular Science China “Too Sudden! A well-known actress died at the age of 25! Don’t be careless if you have these symptoms…”
[5]2013-05-16 Health Times “my country’s sudden cardiac death ranks first in the world”
[6]2019-12-03 Health Times “Most of the sudden death from exercise is of cardiac origin”
[7]2019-12-06 Health Times “Middle-aged, please let yourself go”
[8]Global,regional,and national burdens of ischemic heartdisease and stroke attributable to exposure to long working hours for 194countries,2000–2016:A systematic analysis from the WHO/ILO Joint Estimates of the Work-related Burden of Disease and Injury.
[9]2017-11-10 Health Times “Relaxing is more important than falling asleep”