My whole life I’ve been told that if you fall asleep in the bath then you’ll drown, or something. But is this true? I’m a grown ass adult I think I’d just wake up if my head fell under water
My whole life I’ve been told that if you fall asleep in the bath then you’ll drown, or something. But is this true? I’m a grown ass adult I think I’d just wake up if my head fell under water
But do you drown instantly? Surely as soon as you got water in your throat you’d wake up and start coughing or something
Dry drowning… That shit is low key terrifying
The cautionary stories came about with the era of bored housewives who drank heavily and took pretty heavy prescription drugs…
But they were also wealthy so rather than say OD or suicide they “fell asleep” in the bath.
And I’m sure more than a few murders got wrote off as the same thing. A housewife that habitually passes out deeply could just got tossed in the tub.
Because like you said, no sober person is staying asleep till they drown.
But people hear the cover story and believe it, so they warn people about something that just won’t happen
Very interesting take. I think you might be onto something. Similar to the concept of ‘fan death’ in Korea. I’ve heard it’s often the go-to cause of death when the real cause of death is considered embarrassing or shameful
Nowadays you “died doing a tiktok challenge” and then your parents launch a legal case against tiktok and advocate for the Online Safety Act to lend credence to their story
Possibly, but you might just pass out and drown. Theres also something called Dry Drowning where you get enough water in your lungs that you slowly suffocate, even when not in the water any more. Its about minimizing risks. Sleeping in the tub increases your risk of drowning.
But do we have some real stats around it?
Because like OP, I’ve heard it my entire life and have never heard of someone drowning in the tub without being drugged up or really ill.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26046678/
So there are usually contributing factors like age, alcohol/drugs, or other medical issues. So ask yourself this: Can you be certain that you will never have a medical issue in a bathtub that might lead to you drowning? Have you ever bathed while drunk or high?
That makes sense. But I feel like the warnings about not falling asleep in the bathtub are often handed out generically, including to people who are perfectly sober and in good health
They are given to you when you’re sober, in the hope you’ll remember them drunk.
I can understand that. As I get older I do consider more and more how some people have health issues and just arent aware of it until something drastic happens. This isnt really even specific to bathtubs, just at any time its possible to have a seizure or pass out, among a million other possibilities
Yes some stats would be nice. If it were really that dangerous to fall asleep in the bath I think it would be negligent to let children take unsupervised baths, yet kids do all the time (at least I did when I was a kid). I think thats because most people intuitively know that drowning is not super likely
Okay thats fair enough. Does inhaling water generally make people pass out?
Lack of oxygen does
Paradoxically it’s only build up of CO2 or foriegn matter, including water that will wake someone up. Hypoxia makes it more likely to pass out and drown.
Yup, that’s one reason nitrous oxide is so dangerous. You can suffocate without even realizing.
I guess if you get some water in your lungs it might make sense that you struggle to get enough oxygen. I guess it depends on how deep of an inhale you take before you notice and start to wake up
I’m sure the sleeping in the bath problem would be a sudden awakening when you take your first gulp of water…but a person who’s had a lot to drink may not wake up
Yeah thats why I’m so sceptical of this whole thing. Like, wouldn’t you just wake up before drowning?
Yes. Your body would panic immediately.