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

  • YoFrodo@lemmy.world
    112·
    18 hours ago

    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.

    • Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafeEnglish
      3·
      17 hours ago

      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.

      • YoFrodo@lemmy.world
        6·
        17 hours ago

        https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26046678/

        A bathtub drowning is one of the leading causes of death in a bathtub. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how reliable the drowning-related signs could be for identifying a bathtub drowning in the cases of death in the bathtub. Performing a retrospective review of 92 deaths in the bathtub in Maryland, 71.7 percent were the presence of bathtub drowning and 28.3 percent were the absence of bathtub drowning. Three leading contributory causes of death were cardiovascular disease, drug/alcohol-related death, and seizure disorder in both groups. There was a statistically significant difference between the groups in relation to a history of recovery from the water (95.5% and 38.4%, p<0.001), foam in the air way (33.3% and 15.4%, p<0.05), watery fluid in the sphenoid sinuses (81.8% and 11.5%, p<0.05), hyperinflated lungs (36.4% and 3.8%, p<0.01), and watery fluid in the stomach contents (40.9% and 3.8%, p<0.01). More than triple overlapped drowning-related signs could be beneficial for the diagnosis of a bathtub drowning. A comprehensive investigation incorporating a thorough scene investigation, gathering of the victim’s medical and psychosocial history, and a meticulous full autopsy is necessary to elucidate both the cause and manner of death in these cases of death in the bathtub.

        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?

        • ageedizzle@piefed.caOPEnglish
          2·
          17 hours ago

          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

          • mech@feddit.org
            2·
            14 hours ago

            They are given to you when you’re sober, in the hope you’ll remember them drunk.

          • YoFrodo@lemmy.world
            1·
            16 hours ago

            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

      • ageedizzle@piefed.caOPEnglish
        1·
        17 hours ago

        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

        • in_my_honest_opinion@piefed.socialEnglish
          3·
          17 hours ago

          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.

        • ageedizzle@piefed.caOPEnglish
          1·
          17 hours ago

          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

      • BCsven@lemmy.ca
        1·
        17 hours ago

        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