Fan Death - A Curious Superstition

in psychology •  7 years ago 


Introduction


As I have discussed previously I am fascinated by human belief systems and how they extend to the paranormal, urban legends and various superstitions.

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Seoul Skyline - South Korea seems to be the origin of fan death.

I was listening to a podcast a while back and heard the host discussing an odd superstition that I had not previously come across.

This is called "fan death".

In some far eastern countries (particularly South Korea) there is a belief that falling asleep with an electric fan running can kill you, particularly if you do it without any open windows.


How Can A Running Fan In Your Proximity Kill You?


According to an article in the Korea Herald believers in fan death have attributed the risk as being due to a few mechanisms:

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Noxious fumes/suffocation are cited as mechanisms.

  1. Interference with breathing - from what I can ascertain, it is believed the fan can suck the air out of a person's lungs and cause suffocation.

  2. Hypothermia - having the fan run can cool the person so much that their core temperature drops and they die.

  3. Chemical reactions created by the fan can convert oxygen into (depending on the source) either carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide resulting in suffocation.

It would seem odd that this belief doesn't take account of the fact that points 1 and 2 would actually wake someone up if they were to occur (unless they were extremely rapid).

It is also interesting that people believe having doors or windows open can negate the threat - one can understand that might help in the case of a build up of noxious gasses, but it would not help for points 1 or 2.

It could even make those worse.


A Persistent Belief


Of course, to westerners and those with a scientific mind these beliefs may seem preposterous - yet they still persist in modern times.

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The belief has persisted into modern times.

The person discussing this on the podcast which I mentioned earlier said that several of his Korean relatives strongly believe in this idea.

They refuse to sleep with a fan on in the same room, no matter how hot it is!

The Korea Herald article I cited earlier (which luckily comes with an English translation) reports a 2011 case as follows:

"The 59 years-old victim, only known by his surname Min, was found dead with the fan fixed directly at him.

The police revealed that although Min used to suffer from relatively high blood pressure, it was not serious enough to require medication. They are still investigating the cause of death."

They go on to discuss how stories like this add fuel to the belief in fan death.


It's Not That Hard To Understand


I think in some ways it easy to understand why this happens. If you are frail, infirm or suffering from some kind of chronic illness (like coronary heart disease) then your risk of death may well go up during a heatwave.

This has actually been confirmed by statistical evidence - the number of deaths increases during heatwaves, although the exact numbers vary between studies as a result of there being no fixed definition for what represents a heatwave [2].

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Certain conditions can increase the risk of death during heatwaves.

From my previous reading it seems that the most common cause of death in these cases is due to heart attack or stroke, possibly due to increases in blood clotting (thought there may also be other factors at play) [3].

It is just a coincidence that with it being hot the deceased may also have been running a fan at the same time.

Viewed through the perspective of an existing belief in fan death, people within the same community might see this as confirmation that fans do indeed cause death.

The psychological effect may be exaggerated further if the person who died was previously considered fit and well.

This is not surprising either, as many people who have coronary heart disease or diseased cerebral arteries may not actually be symptomatic until a catastrophic event (heart attack or stroke) kills them.

However to the person who is superstitious, this becomes further confirmation that fan death is a real phenomenon because a "healthy person" died whilst sleeping with a running fan in the room.

It is a form of confirmation bias that we are all susceptible to.


Conclusion


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Have you come across fan death yourself?

I would be curious to hear if anyone of my followers on Steemit have come across fan death.

Are you in South Korea? Is this a common belief in your experience or is this something that is dying out?

Have you heard of any cases that were attributed to fan death? Further are you aware of any similar superstitions that may not be commonly known in the West?

Please let me know in the comments.


References


  1. Yoon-seung, Kang. 2011. “Summer Death Revives Fan Death Myth.” The Korea Herald, July 4. http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20110704000552.

  2. Xu, Zhiwei, Gerard FitzGerald, Yuming Guo, Bin Jalaludin, and Shilu Tong. 2016. “Impact of Heatwave on Mortality under Different Heatwave Definitions: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Environment International 89-90 (April): 193–203. (N.B. I was only able to access the abstract for this.)

  3. Hausfater, Pierre, Benoît Doumenc, Sébastien Chopin, Yannick Le Manach, Aline Santin, Sandrine Dautheville, Anabela Patzak, et al. 2010. “Elevation of Cardiac Troponin I during Non-Exertional Heat-Related Illnesses in the Context of a Heatwave.” Critical Care / the Society of Critical Care Medicine 14 (3): R99.


Thank you for reading


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That's pretty crazy, but not the weirdest that I have heard of. There is something called koro that is basically the craziest mental disorder fear of death that I can think of. If you have never heard of it, look it up. Very bizarre.

Yes I've heard of Koro.

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This phenomenon reminds me of why people can make the same connection between autism and vaccines.

In a book titled "Vaccinated: One Man's Quest to Defeat the World's Deadliest Diseases", the author included a story of how a kid was just about to be vaccinated, and just then, seconds before the syringe was inserted, the kid had his first ever seizure.

Of course, the cause was due to something else, but this seizure was the first of a life of seizures, and if the kid had gotten vaccinated just seconds later, there would be absolutely no convincing the parents of this kid that the vaccination was not the causal factor for his seizures, because until that moment, they'd never manifested.

Correlation does not equal causation. We must always remember that.

Absolutely. Sadly we are prone to such errors of cognition.

I would think that thier are times when Correlation does equal causation, though. The problem is determining if this is one of those times, except in your cicumstance it was clear the seizre happened before the shots. Thier are children whom have had vaccination shots and have had negative immune responses. I remember in school we all had just been vaccinated and me and a freind were playing in grade 7, I jokingly and lightly strangled him and he had a response to the vaccine shots around the same time. Some thought I actually was the cause until it was determines he was having a reaction to the vaccine. Now what happened to me was Correlation does not equal Causation but the vaccine reaction was clearly correlation which does equal Causation in that instance. Thier is so much grey to this world, nothing is ever Black and White.

No really, correlation does not equal causation. Are there instances where two correlated observations have a causal connection? Yes. But you can't go around assuming that because two things are correlated, that one caused the other.

That's the point of keeping it in mind. Never assume that two seemingly connected things are connected. It takes more than that. Preferably, it takes an experiment where one variable can be isolated. Science allows us to do that.

It is entirely true to say that not all milkshakes are chocolate. Are some milkshakes chocolate? Yes. But the point of reminding yourself that not all milkshakes are chocolate is to remember that there are other flavors, and that it would be stupid to just assume someone means chocolate every time they mention a milkshake.

You lost me on the milkshakes, where's the cause and correclation?
Then at what number of aware people do you see a correlation?
If you and I and a hundred other people come to a conclusion it needs to be investigated.
It may not always lead to causation but it is evidence that needs to be examined to be ruled out.
People used to say the same thing about the Cannabis Oil and now it has become common knowledge it does help with many things but we all had to wait for science to tell many of us something we already new. Kind of like the Milk Maids that contacted CowPox to find they were immune to Smallpox, I'm sure it began with Correlation does not equal Causation but eventually it was proven otherwise their was . If no one looked into this correlation we would have never know, it all has to Begin somewhere to find the cause.

A very good example but you just looked at one side of the coin. The psychology of that babe with seeing a syringe or need or any other vaccination instrument could also have led to the seizure.

For a comprehensive evaluation of such cases, I will recommend that psychology be considered as a factor also.

I think it is outlandish that they suspect that it is something that can potentially kill you.

The only threat I can think of is if the fan was pointed straight at you and while you sleep as you turn and rotate the wind could be angled towards your face impeding you able to breathe in air.

It also acts as a way to ventilate the air and have a constant airflow preventing any gases building up. The only problem could be if the motor of the fan is overworked or ignites for some weird reason but that seems unlikely but it is probable.

It seems like it is something which is endorsed by the South Korean government and I'm not sure if it is supposed to be a gimmick to reduce energy use in the country.
South Korea is known for it' progress in technology and its beautifully lit up city with many illuminating billboards.

I'll have to look into it more I guess @thecryptofiend

I think this one of the things that interests me most about this belief in that South Korea is possibly one of the, if not THE most technologically advanced country in the world, so it is an interesting contrast. That said, we are all prone to superstition as human beings no matter how logical or rational we are.

It seems like it is a widely accepted belief and it is hard to take away or dispute the incantation and superstition instilled in the mind of the masses.
Truly amazing how superstitions can have such control of our lives toying with how we live our lives and inevitably restricting us due to some folk tale, but as many say: it is better to be safe than sorry.

What was the podcast?

I listen to podcasts all week while at work so I am always looking for more interesting things to listen too. I run through Radiolab, JRE, hardcore history, coffee break spanish, lore etc pretty quickly. Always need more and this sounds interesting.

It was an old episode of Mysterious Universe that I found on my phone - I think from a few months back (don't know which number as it was playing in the car). You can find them here:

http://mysteriousuniverse.org/

It's a top quality show and quite funny as well.

Thanks, I'll download some episodes and try it out.

Definitely worth it. They have a paid version too that gives you an extra episode and removes the ads which is well worth it.

This is crazy but very fascinating seeing cultural concerns and urban myths. Definitely a 0% chance of 1 2 or 3 happening without additional factors being the real cause.

Yes thank you.

hey i think fan deatch kill is very danserous.

The only threat I can think of is if the fan was pointed straight at you and while you sleep as you turn and rotate the wind could be angled towards your face impeding you able to breathe in air.

It also acts as a way to ventilate the air and have a constant airflow preventing any gases building up. The only problem could be if the motor of the fan is overworked or ignites for some weird reason but that seems unlikely but it is probable.

It seems like it is something which is endorsed by the South Korean government and I'm not sure if it is supposed to be a gimmick to reduce energy use in the country.
South Korea is known for it' progress in technology and its beautifully lit up city with many illuminating billboards.

The only threat I can think of is if the fan was pointed straight at you and while you sleep as you turn and rotate the wind could be angled towards your face impeding you able to breathe in air.

That is not a threat though. A normal electric fan that you use in your house cannot impede your breathing - it is just not powerful enough.

It seems like it is something which is endorsed by the South Korean government and I'm not sure if it is supposed to be a gimmick to reduce energy use in the country.

Yes I think that was suggested as one possible source of the idea being perpetuated but I have not seen any direct evidence of it.

Humans are prone to attribute concepts together. By linking together these things they will attempt to try and understand the world better. However these false linkages come often and can be difficult to absolve.

In A Clockwork Orange, there is a psychological experiment called the Ludovico Technique in which the main character is introduced to aversion therapy. Given a syringe that causes pain and nausea, they are exposed to scenes of violence and sex. This transforms them such that every time they see violence/sex, they feel the same symptoms.

It's an inescapable mechanism of being human.

Yes very true. Aversion therapy is not exactly the same though, since it is not a purely cognitive or conceptual effect - pain is also being used. I have heard some people argue that memes may in some way be more powerful because there is less overt psychological resistance to the concept being presented.

I'm Korean and I remember my mom always told me not to turn on the fan when I was sleeping. I felt it was a kind of lesson from parents, and I hadn't doubt it until I heard the objection.
This story has a long history of a century. It's not dying out yet. Most of the older generations still believe it. Young people do not fully believe it, but are not sure it is completely false. Our media say that there is no evidence accoring to experts, but do not say it is completely false.
In fact, it has become less important issue because most people use air conditioner nowaday. Of course I've never seen the news that sleeping person was dead while the air conditioner was on.

Interesting. Thank you for sharing your own personal experience. The thing is air conditioners have a fan inside them too.

my son and I put up the ceiling fan over my bed. We had to use a tension bar because the existing light fixture was in between two joists and we needed a sturdier mount for the fan. For several days afterwards my son called me expressing fear that the heavy fan shook lose and crashed down on me in my sleep. Even so, I felt this was a paranoid fear, since he could swing on it with his 200 lb. weight. Still, a more probable possibility for fan death LOL!!

Yes I think that is a more rational fear - any kind of heavy object could cause serious injury if it fell on you.

Very nice article. I don't know whether a hypercoagulable state occurs when someone is hyperthermic. Rather, dehydration and intravascular "underfilling" seems to be the most likely cause of circulatory problems, which could of course have an indirect effect on bloodflow and therefore coagulable state.

Yes that is possible.

At first I though it'd be someone being a fan of death. Like "Yay, someone died, I'm happy about it".

This was more interesting than I had expected, even though I have never heard of fans causing any deaths.

Thanks glad you found it interesting.

Thanks for posting. Maybe it's actually the difference in the climates we are living in. Finland is a chilly country and you rarely need a fan so cases in which someone has died and there has been a fan present are really rare.

In the cases someone has died and has had a fan, I could imagine it'd be in a really hot temperature, which is dangerous for elderly or sick people, and the fan isn't enough to help.

I'm lucky to live in a country where it's more common someone passes out while being outside and freezes to death.

Yes that could certainly be part of it. Fans are obviously a lot more common in warm countries.

This article is great and the superstition is hilarious.
Here in Indonesia the fear is the same
Youll get "Masuk Angin" entry of the wind and it can supposedky make you very sick
But only from fans not AC

Well I think we all believe in things which may seem hilarious to people from other cultures.

Youll get "Masuk Angin" entry of the wind and it can supposedky make you very sick

But only from fans not AC

That is interesting since AC has to also have a fan in it!

Herbal remedies to get out the wind are no joke , its a multimillion dollar market

Well trapped wind can be quite uncomfortable.

But its not the same as actual trapped wind
The symptoms are GI discomfort, mild fever, sweats, muscle aches, dull headache, lethargy

I have no idea what you are talking about then.

Ah then you are closer to solving the mystery of "fan death".
This is at its core, understanding Asian traditional ethnomedical concepts
Till u dig in there one cant understand why its a pan asian belief

That's what makes it so fascinating - I think these kind of things help us to understand other cultures.

This Masuk Angin is not recognised by the medical fraternity but the weight of cultural belief is so strong it goes unchallenged.
Same for "panas Dalam"
Workers could call in sick with either and its understood

Exactly
Now you see why its so funny
But that is the nature of irrational beliefs

To get out the wind inside you can drink some herbal remedy or get Kerokan..a rather painful process involving a coin, some oil and repeatèd rubbing massage until your back looks like tiger stripes of red whelts.

The superstition is ubiquitous in Indonesia about "fan death"

I haven't heard of death fan. When was a teenager I fall asleep in living room under ac running at high speed, it was hot summer. When I woke up I couldn't move my neck at all, there severe pain if I tried to move. It could have been that I positioned my neck bad agaist the couch edge. But I blamed ac for the most part. Since then I avoid sleeping in room with high ac.
What do you use to edit your posts? Then look clean and nice.

Interesting. It seems you understand rationally that the AC had nothing to do with what happened and yet it has still changed your behaviour. I think there is often a discontinuity between our rational thoughts and the way we behave.

What do you use to edit your posts? Then look clean and nice.

I use a text editor (writeroom) with a combination of markdown and html.

My experience with what you described is common for us in my country. This happens often and this pain can stay up to 2 days if untreated. This pain can be caused by both AC or running fan. This has to do with the wind blowing constantly in one direction hitting one spot on your body causing it to hurt if this continues for a long period of time.

"Fan Death" mirrors other anchored phenomena, like the anti-vaxxer movement and the flat-earthers.

An irrational fear is seeded, people spread the idea like a virus, and it takes hold in the non-critical minds of others.

Its also why crowd psychology dynamics work in gatherings of lots of people versus how individuals would act by themselves.

There may have been some evolutionary advantage to mental mimicry, but for now it seems to only perpetuate things that have zero survival advantage for any participant.

Interesting article, thanks for sharing.

Yes it seems they are unhelpful memes (in the sense of contagious ideas).

My electric fan is always turned on. It is only turned off when it is really cold during the months of December and January here. Dying from hypothermia is unlikely from a turned on fan unless you really fight the chill factor until your body core temp goes down then death ensues only after.
I also use blanket when it gets too cold and take it off a little when it goes uncomfortably warm.

I like to have a fan on too - particularly in the summer. I think in order to die from hypothermia due to a fan you would need to already be in a very cold environment.

I believe that in the East it is believed that cold air blowing on the back of your neck, at the acupuncture point know as Wind Gate (fengmen or BL-12), can cause illness. You will see people avoid sitting with AC or a fan blowing on the back of their neck, or they will wear a scarf for protection.

OK that makes sense. Kind of like an energy based idea - I was kind of confused by the mention of wind!

Yes. Here is a pretty exhaustive review of Feng, or Wind, in Chinese Medicine. TLDR: Wind is a pernicious influence on the body, responsible for wind disease.

OK yes I'm sure I have heard of it before - so I think this is more a kind of metaphorical wind that represents the functioning of the body.

WTF?? Only Fan Death would be if you stick your head in the fan while its running full speed. Great thought provoking post!

Most fans have a guard to prevent that happening though. You would have to deliberately remove the guard to do that and it is also not clear if an average fan would actually kill you or slice your face up.

You're right.

Well, this is an interesting concept. Personally, I haven't come across anyone who became a victim of fan death. I highly doubt that it can happen but as per your evidences and sources, I have believe it. May be the reason for these 'fan deaths' are still unknown. Death by heat waves is still a piece of shock for many, but yeah it may happen. Actually anything can happen in case of deaths, last I heard a person was dead just falling out of bicycle at speed of only 10km/hr. Concept of death in many cases are still unknown.

I think you are misunderstanding. I am not suggesting that fan death is a real thing - at least not in the way that this belief proposes.

I do know of an actual death from a ceiling fan, but I am talking about a horrible accidental death of a child, (you can imagine) not what you are talking about here. I know several people who can't sleep without a fan on. For the white noise aspect. I personally hate white noise, esp fan noise so no going there for me.

Interesting article, I had never heard of it before.

big hugs @thecryptofiend

That sounds awful!

bit not nice, yes, Happened when I was very young. Seen too much death for sure, but life goes on.

Like the Sisyphus image. One of my guiding stories. Have you read the Albert Camus essay, by that title?

Have you read the Albert Camus essay, by that title?

No I'm not aware of it?

I think it's like with any other believe - the more people saying that's someting is true the more people starts to believe it. I haven't encounter "fand death" believe till today and probably that's why I don't believe in it. On the other hand if I would hear that constantly or even from time to time from others I maybe would start worring about it alothough my left brain side would say it's irracional. Subconscious mind can really beat s*** out of us sometimes and we even won't know where the problem actually lays. It always comes in the shade of some unplesent feeling or precognition and you end up with the feeling "I don't really like turining on fan when I go to sleep, but when someone asks you why? I'll just say. I don't know - Just feel like it.

Yes that is a very good point. Our believes are often shaped by suggestion, particularly from those around us.

Never heard of fan death. I live in a country in the tropics where many people are using fans as AC is much too expensive. Such cases never occurred as far as I know.

Well it is a belief and superstition it is not an actual cause of death.

Noted.

This is literally scary, and creepy .. death is always around us. My younger sister actually passed away by. Ring electrocuted by a fan in Pakistan ..

Sorry to hear about your sister but that is not the kind of fan death I'm talking about here.

I know it was not , I just shared a different type of fan death

@journeyoflife I'm sorry to hear about your sister.

Yes that is awful though. I can't imagine how you come to terms with something like that.

Interesting! Amazing how a superstition can impact a nation.
As a child i had a belief that if I wore socks to bed monsters in the night couldn't get me. Only a personal superstition though, nothing nation-wide.

Lol that is similar to the "hiding under the covers" being protection against all dangers belief.

Yes! Magic socks! The all important wearable talisman! To be combined in magical powers with...the cover! ;)

Lol.

Interesting...right up there with believing cats steal your breath while you sleep

I thought it was little goblins!

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

It is the first time I hear about these cases of suspected death due to fans. I think they are simple coincidences. What we are talking about here is actually a superstitious behavior. When people can not control certain situations, superstitions can be born. It's one of the oldest behaviors. Most superstitions are harmless, but some of them can have serious consequences.

Exactly.

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

As a Korean, I grew up listening about stories of the 'fan death' and I believed it to be true--or at least thought it was bad for your health--until high school. I'm pretty sure some people still believe in the myth. The top reasons for the death were suffocation, hypothermia and short circuits. When you hear things like these you don't really question them, you just assume it's true and embrace it as a fact.

Yes I think if you hear something enough it tends to bypass your logic at least in childhood. I think short circuit is a valid risk - although having earthing in all devices reduces the hazard quite significantly.

I had never heard of fan death, I live in the Caribbean part of Honduras if you can't afford AC, you have to use a fan, if you don't then yes you would probably die from the heat. But fan death? No I have never heard of that happening.

Yes it seems to be more an eastern thing - particularly South Korea.

This is an interesting article. Well researched and thus it deserves a high quality upvote from @adsactly

Thank you!

It's a strange reading for me. Fan death is a strangest superstition for me because in our country, Pakistan, fans have been the saviors during hot summers for decades now. Air conditioners and coolers are becoming popular now but fans exist. But fan death superstition doesn't exist despite the country being full of other kinds of superstitions.

The only case of fan death I can recall was the girl in my neighborhood who touched a fan when the electricity was absent. The moment the electric power was back, she got electric shock and died. Something wrong with the volage or something.

I think the main reason of death in case of all supposed fan deaths must be a disease or undetected medical condition. Otherwise, saying that fan caused the death is equivalent to saying that the room caused that death because the person was sleeping in that room.

Nice to read about this strange concept though.

Yes in fact fans probably do save lives.

The only case of fan death I can recall was the girl in my neighborhood who touched a fan when the electricity was absent.

Wow I had another person reporting the same thing with someone being electrocuted by a fan. That is quite worrying. I wonder how common this is.

Sudden surge of electric current coupled with poor saftey measures does kill people. It's quite common.

I'm assuming there is no earthing in those cases because that is the main eventuality that it protects against.

The problem is with earthing and the overall saftey measures are weak as well.

Right.

It's been a few years since I read about this. The few cases reported were all successfully debunked. From what I could tell, it's just superstition, and your observations seem quite accurate.

Yes it is pretty obviously just a superstition because there is no scientific basis to it.

Really? Fan death? This seems outlandish.
No, I've never heard of this, in fact, as I child I slept with the fan on all the time.
I have a question for you, are you a fan of the NFL (american football)?

It seems outlandish to us but it is (or at least appears to be) a real belief. I don't know anything about NFL!

Wow I have never heard of this before. We sleep with fans for the white noise. I don't like it directly pointing at me because I did notice for example if directly to my head I would wake up with a headache. I've also read that it's good to have in room to help circulate the air . Very interesting, it reminds me my grandma wouldn't like cats in the house because she told me that our souls leave our body at night and the cats would not let them come back into our bodies.

Yes superstitions are everywhere. I have also heard others suggest that having black cats is protective for similar reasons!

I've read about such belief once in a kpop site and I found it unbelievable enough to disregard it especially since the site is also known to sensationalize a bit. I think it's a matter of coincidence really since a lot of people from many countries sleep with fans on in a closed room and there isn't anything like this. It just doesn't make sense. It's like someone in walking on someone holding a bloody knife near a dead body and because it looks incriminating, he's the automatic suspect. Even though he probably panicked and pulled the knife out to "help".

Yes I agree it is hard to believe - sometimes superstitions don't really make sense although normally they relate to bad luck.

Don't every pull the knife out to help - it may actually be keeping the person alive and stopping a catastrophic haemorrhage.

Lol I picked a horrible example although it does happen. And I'm not calm enough to stay conscious if I ever see a person with a knife sticking out of his body @.@

It is almost a reflexive response to someone who is wounded to pull the knife out - I remember a senior doctor who once did this even though logically he knew he shouldn't have. The patient died because the knife was preventing a catastrophic bleed. Once it was out the patient died before he could be moved to the operating theatre (even though it was one floor away).

Oh that's so sad :| Hopefully, I never have to see anyone with a knife in them.

Well if you do don't pull it out.

Congratulations @thecryptofiend!
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There is an aspect of this issue you may need to also consider. Fan is known to worsen allergic reaction in some cases.

If allergens such as dust or fur enters an environment, fan can spread it very fast which in turn can trigger allergic reaction which can lead to death.

Some allergic reaction sequence can lead to death especially in cases of asthma, or anaphylactic reaction. This view may not be popular but worth considering.

That is an interesting point but I think it is incorrect. Anaphylaxis requires tiny amounts of an allergen to occur - if the allergen were already present in the room one would expect it to occur anyway. Even the scent of an allergen can contain enough of a dose to trigger it. Also having a window open would not necessarily be enough to prevent it happening for the same reason.

Thanks for your view. In science, there is a level of unpredictability and unknown factors that we must always provide for. We talk about what we know. There are yet so much we do not know which is why science is a living subject. More so, why we keep discovering new things on top of what is previously discovered. Thank you.

Absolutely.

Interesting. I live in Asia in a country where the blades of fans aren't always covered with a wire grill or whatever you call it. They just have the blades, nothing between you and the blades. Whenever I see one of these I am strongly tempted to put a hand into it and watch my fingers go flying off.

Now that is dangerous - can't believe those kind of fans would still be made!

The ones I normally encounter are usually in a public bathroom, up above the urinals in the men's room, very small but still big enough to take at least a couple fingers off. However, I have seen on occasion, a normal fan, an old one in which the protective grill thing has fallen off but the blades and motor still functioning with the thing blazing away sitting on the floor where a toddler could walk into it. Unfortunately, safety is not first in parts of Asia.

I can imagine!

Wow. Pretty interesting post cryptofiend! I'm not sure how to comment on something wild and fascinating. I like it though. Upvoted and following!!

Thank you!

😂

Hi, I´m a robot, I just upvoted you! I found content that might give others more insight about your topic:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_death

Free air is healthier. But now the air pollution is getting worse

Not sure what this has to do with the post.

It's crazy...

Well to us it may seem that way but I think we have some beliefs that other cultures will find crazy too.

thecryptofiend - Thanks for sharing very interesting and different nature topic. This is life and nothing is impossible in it.

I don't see how any of that applies to this post. It is not a nature topic and your last sentence sounds like it is referring to a lifestyle/self help post.

Wow never heard of this... stranger things have happened. Makes me think twice about sleeping with my fan running.

Did you read the post - it is a superstition not a real cause of death.

Indeed I was being sarcastic.

:)

great article

"Chemical reactions created by the fan can convert oxygen into (depending on the source) either carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide resulting in suffocation."

I really don't get how that can be the basis of an urban myth in ASIA of all places. Aren't they supposed to be brainiacs when it comes to natural science?

That shows the problem with stereotyping people.

A very useful post survived greetings from @ abupasi.alachy

Thank you!

This is spam. If you keep doing it you will get flags instead of follows.

Most of fan deaths occurs under dictatorship regimes, not actual fans. That is when a fan doubts his leader.

Then they aren't a real fan so it doesn't count;)

meep

What Electric fan i thought it was a fan of someone haahah that a different level superstition

:)

Nice post dear friend Up&Resteem

Thanks!

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Welcome!

Sorry but begging for votes will only get you flags.

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Sorry friend i delete my comment and don`t do it again

The only fan death i can think about is when it's so huge that it can suck you in and make ground beef from you.

Yes but I don't know of any fans like that - maybe a jet engine turbine - but you aren't going to be able to get close enough to it.

Yeah, not that easy to keep a jet engine turbine in a bedroom lol.

No ;)

Here you'll find only officially released television promos and teasers, along with exclusive interviews and more. Make sure to follow to never miss a video!

This is spam and if you do it again I will flag you.

This is unrelatex @thecryptofiend, but I need help.

My active key will not show. I searched Steemit and found an old post of yours describing the same problem.

I can log in with owner key, but I can't change anything or transfer because it says I need active key. My posting key works fine. How did you fix this?

I hope you read this and reply.

Thanks in advance.

I didn't it seemed to fix itself. I would suggest asking in the Steemit chat help channel or emailing Steemit:

https://steemit.chat/channel/help

[email protected]

Thanks for your reply @thscryptofiend.

I hope it fixes itself with my account as well.

Well try asking on chat at least as someone may know there.

I love culture bound syndromes no one is afraid of fan death in North America but its like widespread fear in Korea that's crazy

Yes - it seems crazy to us but I'm sure there are some beliefs we have that they think are crazy.

Nice post
@thecryptofiend
I am resteem your post

Thank you!

Oh I always sleep by opening fan and I don't known before thanks to you and vpvoted on it.

Cool thank you!

@bdmomuae you are beautiful, I followed you :D

Lol. Thanks

I thought the story was going to be about a hyperventilating teenage girl at a Justin Bieber concert. lol

:)

nice post
thanks for sharing

You're welcome!

you the best, thank verry much

there are so many ways to die, but, luckily, many more ways to live

Not sure how this is related.

i was only referring how it is important to concentrate on living a full
life,

Instead of focussing on death? I think it is human nature though to concentrate on the negative.

Thats scary!

I think it is only scary if you believe it.

And What is your Conclusion? :)

About what?

All this :))

All :))

No I never heard of fan death, this is crazy. I don't buy it lol, but I've been wrong a lot lately

Well it may seem crazy to us but it is dependent on cultural context.