Enigma of sleep death

ABSTRACT

Sudden sleep death resulting from ventricular fibrillation [VF] may be triggered in some patients by behavioral and neural factors. Diverse neural traffic to the heart and augmented sympathetic drive lower the vulnerable period threshold for VF. Ventricular premature beats [VPBs] which may be risk indicators of susceptibility to sudden death, are triggered by different psychogenic factors, innocuous somatic afferents and disturbed body surface potential leading to varying electrical potentials converging back to the heart. Persistent assault of diverse biobehavioral influences -of synthetic garments would not only increase sympathetic drive through somatic afferents but would also disturb the electrical uniformity of the myocardium as it disturbs the skin potential and tigers VPBs of different grades including VF culminating in sudden death