Can you help?

Question

I am writing a short story in which the protagonist needs to die quietly in their sleep. It is a male, mid/late fifties, avergage height and build (eg not overweight), non-smoker and rare drinker. No rela medical history apart from the usual odds and sods.

Can you suggest a viable, realistic cause of death? I was thinking sudden heart attack, but wasn't sure if they occur during sleep- and I'm pretty sure that the pain, no matter how brief, would wake you?

Cheers

Answer 1

People do die of heart failure in their sleep. However, you might want to give your protagonist an aneurism.

Answer 2

Here is a few takes on heart attacks:

The majority of heart attacks happen in the morning when a person first wakes up.

Yes, the pain could wake them up, but would be so debilitating, there would be no way to call for help. Think of an elephant sitting on your chest.

I would suggest you look into the history of heart attacks in young athletes to give you another point of view. I'm sure you can search it on the web.

Answer 3

Heart attack could work. My uncle died of a sudden, unexpected heart attack about six years ago. He'd had a headache all day, and he just suddenly fell over dead that afternoon. So your protagonist could have a headache, go to bed, and just not wake up. And you're talking about a healthy guy for a protagonist? My uncle was a 39 yr old firefighter...

Answer 4

My great grandfather died in his sleep of congestive heart failure. He knew before then that he had it. He was 90 though.

My grandfather almost died in his sleep in his 70s. He was taking a medication that is now off the market because it led to aneurisms. If my mom wouldn't have found him, they said he would have died in his sleep there.

I did some searching because I wanted to help and my boss hasn't given me any assignments to do today.

I searched for:
die in sleep
die in sleep causes
death in sleep
sudden adult death (note: I found that SAD affects younger adults. SUDS affects adults of certain Asian decents and runs through families.)
sleeping disorder death

and came up with these results.

Sleep apnea can cause cardiac arrests (The protagonist might not know they have a sleep disorder.)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/03/050329131103.htm

4% of men have sleep apnea. Higher risk of cardiac arrest and death with it.
http://www.virtualrheumatologycentre.com/news.asp?artid=6117

Sudden Cardiac Death
About 335,000 people a year die of coronary heart disease without being hospitalized or admitted to an emergency room.
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4741

Answer 5

heart attack would work. people die in their sleep from those all the time. or you could use a cerebral hemmorrhage (stroke) in which a blood vessel bursts in the brain. these are rarely detected. look it up on webmd and are often fatal. hope this helps and good luck with the story! i'd like to read it!. :-)

Answer 6

well my mother in law died of a sudden heart attack in her sleep and she definately never woke up during it , so that would b a viable cause of death. :(

Answer 7

didnt wake GenePitney up did it,yes a blood clot in heart or brain kill instantly to anyone of any age

Answer 8

Sleepwalks down a disused lift shaft, he wont ever wake up from it and he wont know a thing

Answer 9

Exploding clock radio

Answer 10

Carbon monoxide poisoning from a gas boiler.