Woman Who Claims She Hasn't Slept In 40 Years Leaves Doctors Baffled

Due to work pressure and stress, several people suffer from insomnia, a disorder which makes it difficult to get proper sleep. However, have you ever heard of a person who hasn’t slept for several years? A woman in China reportedly has a mysterious condition that has prevented her from normally falling asleep in 40 years.

The woman, identified as Li Zhanying, from the Henan province, claims she was five years old when she last slept. When she told her neighbors about it, they did not believe her and tried to stay awake with her all night. They played cards for several hours continuously to tire her out. But, nothing worked, and after some time, the neighbors dozed off as Zhanying remained wide awake, India Times reported.

Liu Suoquin, her husband of 20 years, also said she doesn’t sleep and that since their marriage, she would always be completing household chores even late at night. He said he assumed she had insomnia and bought her sleeping pills, which did not work either.

The duo decided to seek medical help, but the doctors were unable to provide a diagnosis. Last week, the woman went to a sleeping centre in Beijing and tests revealed the mystery surrounding her condition, Catch News reported.

The medical team at the hospital fixed special instruments on the woman’s wrists for 48 hours to monitor her. The sleep patterns detected by the instruments revealed the woman actually slept, but not like normal people. Doctors noticed when the woman was having a chat with her husband, her eyes did droop and she actually fell asleep, despite continuing the conversation. Tests showed her eyes never closed for more than 10 minutes a day.

Explaining her condition, doctors compared it to sleepwalkers, whose bodies are active while the brains are asleep. Doctors, however, did not say what the condition was named or reveal further details about it.