Are We Safe in Our Sleep?

Many of us have heard of SIDS.  Sudden infant death syndrome.  This affects newborns mainly up to the age of 4 months.  This keeps mostly ever mother awake watching her new baby.  SIDS is responsible for roughly 50 deaths per 100,000 births in the US.  There are ways to help prevent SIDS.  Keep infants off of their stomachs.  When the infants turn about 5 months old, they are able to turn their heads, and won’t suffocate on the mattress.  Always use a flat mattress for your newborn babies. If the mattress is fluffy, the baby can suffocate.  Do not put fluffy pillows and blankets in newborns bed.  Even though this may look the bed look really pretty and cute, your baby can smother itself.  Feed your baby before laying he/she down, never lay your baby down with a bottle.  The baby can drown to death.  Another prevention recommended is that a mother should not smoke during her pregnancy, or smoke around her baby after he/she is born.  Sleep near your baby, but it is not recommended to allow an infant to sleep in the bed with you.  It is easy to roll over on your newborn and not even know it.  Following these preventative tips has cut down on the cases of SIDS in the US.

Wait, didn’t I just say that this should be over with by the age of 4 months?  Then what is SUDS, also known as SUNDS?  SUDS is sudden unexpected death syndrome, SUNDS is sudden unexpected nocturnal death syndrome.  Same thing, one more word.  This is defined as a sudden unexpected death of adolescents and adults during sleep!!  SUDS was first noted in 1977!  Some believe that SUDS is superstitious.  They believe that it’s only a heart attack.  Believers say that victims have frightening nightmares that continue to haunt the victim, until finally they are scared to death!  Once they are frightened so terribly, they have a cardiac arrhythmia and die!!  The only way one can survive this attack is if they can get their heart to slow down and go back to it’s normal beat before the heart stops beating all together. 

It is believed that it is an evil spirit that haunts ones dreams, sits on its victims chest, and squeezes it!  

Wow.. what a way to die!!  You think with the world the way it is, the safest place for you to be is at home, snuggled up in your bed.  Think again!