A Hungarian man named Paul Kern claims he has spent the past 40 years living a sleepless life. And I don’t just mean that he’s had bouts of insomnia. No, Kern claims that he hasn’t slept a wink since taking a gunshot injury to the head during World War I.
If that sounds absolutely baffling, well, you aren’t the only one scratching your head; scientists are, too. In fact, sleep is considered one of the most essential things for your body, and without it, the body often falls into disrepair, as the brain isn’t able to release certain proteins or restore cognitive function as it needs to.
As such, going without sleep for extended periods of time can cause things like sleep hallucinations and even complete personality changes. So, how has Kern lived a sleepless life for the past 40 years? Well, scientists aren’t exactly sure.
But, the entire mystery seems to be tied to that bullet injury he took back in World War I. At the time, Kern enlisted, along with 1 million other Hungarians, to fight in the war and avenge the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. In 1915, he took a shot to the head, with the bullet becoming embedded in his frontal lobe.
Miraculously, he survived the wound and the subsequent surgery to remove the bullet, but after opening his eyes on the hospital bed, he’s found himself stuck in a sleepless life—unable to fall asleep no matter how hard he tries. He remained living without sleep until he died in 1955, and based on all the evidence, it doesn’t appear that there were any symptoms from his lack of rest.
That’s what has especially baffled scientists—as, by all accounts, Kern should have been falling over himself with cognitive issues. In fact, going that long without sleep would have killed him well before he hit the 40-year mark—at least based on everything we thought we knew about sleep and its importance to our body.
And it is possible that Kern’s early death—at least early by today’s standards—was caused by his sleepless life. However, the theories surrounding how he survived those 40 years still remain astounding. Some suggest the bullet tore out the part of his brain that required sleep, while others theorize that he could sleep for seconds at a time throughout the day without realizing it, according to Dmarge.
No matter the answer, though, the case of Paul Kern and his 40 years of insomnia remains one of the biggest mysteries that sleep scientists have found themselves trying to solve.
