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The Infographics Show, How Does Anesthesia Actually Put You to Sleep?

How Does Anesthesia Actually Put You to Sleep?

Knocked out, going under, sedated, put to sleep...there are plenty of

creative terms used to describe the experience of being under anesthesia,

but how does anesthesia actually put you to sleep? The crazy thing is, we don't actually

know for sure… but as you'll see in this video, sometimes it can go horribly wrong….

Anesthesia is one of the most commonly performed medical procedures out

there - more than 60,000 people undergo anesthesia every single day in the U.S.

alone. Despite its prevalence we still don't fully understand

exactly how anesthesia works in the human body to put us to sleep - we just know that it works.

The word anesthesia means ‘loss of sensation',

and millions of Americans undergo anesthesia every year to prevent them from feeling pain

and to keep them still and unresponsive so that doctors can safely perform life saving operations

that would be incredibly difficult - not to mention painful - to do to a conscious patient.

We may not fully understand how anesthesia works, but that doesn't mean it isn't a real life

medical miracle. Before the late 1800s, the only “drugs” we had to help patients through

painful procedures were things like alcohol, opium and hemlock - hardly fool-proof methods.

For centuries, medical procedures like tooth extractions and fracture repairs were performed

with very little - if any - pain relief for the patient. But, beginning in the 1840s, scientists

discovered that some gases, like sulphuric ether and chloroform, had sedative effects. Anesthesia

was born, and medical treatment became wildly less painful and traumatic than ever before in history.

Modern anesthesia cocktails are much safer and more reliable than these first gases were,

but we're still at a loss to explain exactly how they work to put us to sleep.

There are 4 categories of anesthesia - local, regional, sedation and general anesthesia. Local

anesthesia involves injecting a small amount of the drug into a specific area. This is the type of

anesthesia you'd get at the doctor's office before a filling or at the hospital before they stitch

you up. It's also used after major surgeries to help with pain as other, strong anesthesia begins

to wear off. Local anesthetic numbs only the targeted area, and wears off relatively quickly.

Similar to local anesthesia, regional anesthesia targets a specific area of the body,

though it is stronger than local anesthesia and can block sensation to an entire section of the

body. Epidural injections to the spine that are used to numb the lower body during labor,

and femoral nerve blocks that are injected into the femoral artery in the upper thigh

to freeze the entire leg for orthopedic surgery are just a few examples of regional anesthesia.

Both local and regional anesthesia leave the patient fully conscious - they don't “put you

under”. We need stronger stuff for that. Regional anesthesia is often combined with sedation. These

“twilight sedation” drugs make the patient more relaxed and unfocused. They don't force

the patient into unconsciousness, but many people do fall asleep under sedation due to the drowsy,

sleepy feeling it induces. Sedation doesn't affect breathing or reflexes,

making it less risky than full general anesthesia, and it also wears off more quickly.

When you picture a patient lying unconscious on the operating table waiting to be cut open,

what you're picturing is someone under general anesthesia. General anesthetic affects the entire

body and works in 4 ways. It immobilizes the body to stop it from moving during the procedure

and acts as an analgesic to prevent the patient from feeling any pain.

It also works on the brain by sedating the patient in an unconscious state,

and even induces amnesia to ensure the patient will have no memory of the experience.

In reality, “put to sleep” is not the best way to describe what it's like to be under general

anesthesia - it's actually more like being in a drug-induced coma. "It's a reversible coma,

but it's nevertheless a coma," says Emery Brown, a professor of anesthesiology at Harvard Medical

School. When under general anesthesia, an electroencephalogram, or EEG test, shows that

brain activity decreases down to levels very close to what we expect to see in cases of brain-stem

death. It's no wonder patients find the euphemism “put to sleep” to be a less scary description!

So, what does it actually feel like to get “put under” with general anesthesia?

Donna Penner's story provides a glimpse into the mysterious experience of being under

anesthesia - as well as a potent warning about how sometimes, things can go terribly, terribly wrong.

Donna, a 45 year old mother from Manitoba, Canada, had been experiencing some worrying

and unexplainable symptoms, so her doctor recommended an exploratory abdominal surgery

to see if they could find the cause of her mysterious issues.

On the day of her surgery, Donna was understandably nervous to be “put under”, but

she was eager to get to the bottom of her unusual symptoms. She met with her anesthesiologist, who

talked her through the process and assured her he would be by her side the entire time. Since Donna

didn't have any of the risk factors that could lead to a complication - she was a nonsmoker,

not overweight, with no underlying medical conditions - he assured her that things should

go smoothly, and that she wouldn't remember a thing when she woke up after the operation.

The only downside was that Donna had to fast for 6 hours before her surgery to ensure that

her stomach was empty and reduce the risk of vomiting or choking while she was under.

Finally, Donna was prepped for surgery and wheeled into the operating room,

where she was greeted by her anesthesiologist. As the surgeon was busy getting prepared for the

operation, the anesthesiologist placed a mask over Donna's mouth and administered a cocktail

of hypnotic agents, opioids, muscle relaxants, sedatives and cardiovascular drugs to Donna.

He held her hand and comforted her as she drifted into unconsciousness before inserting a breathing

tube down her throat to help her breath and prevent choking, since the anesthesia relaxes

breathing and coughing reflexes. He also placed 3 sticky patches on Donna's chest connected to an

electrocardiogram, or ECG machine, to monitor her heart rate, secured a blood pressure cuff on her

arm, and clipped a pulse oximeter to her finger to monitor the oxygen level in Donna's blood.

True to his word, Donna's anesthesiologist would remain by her side throughout the

entire operation, carefully monitoring her stats and ensuring that she was

getting a continual dose of anesthesia drugs. But, despite his watchful eye,

there was one thing her anesthesiologist couldn't see - Donna was actually awake.

Horrifically, Donna had woken up just before the surgeon was about to make his very first cut.

She was fully conscious but immobilized, unable to speak or to signal to the room

full of doctors and nurses that she was awake and aware. She remained frozen in place on the

table as the surgeon sliced open her abdomen and explored her insides, poking and prodding at her

organs for hours. All the while, Donna could feel everything - every excruciating slice,

every horrible movement. She was in terrible, agonizing pain, and she was helpless to do

anything about it - she couldn't move or scream, and she was sure she was going to die. “I thought,

‘This is it,” says Donna. “This is how I'm going to die, right here on the table, and my family

will never know what my last few hours were like because no one's even noticing what's going on.'”

Miraculously, Donna survived her ordeal, though her recovery was long and painful.

Even once her body had healed, the experience left her with lasting psychological scars.

She developed severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, as a result of her horrific

experience on the operating table, and suffered from anxiety and panic attacks for years.

Donna remembers having a full blown panic attack one day when out shopping. She had stayed in the

car while her daughter quickly ran into the store, but when Donna realized that the car

doors were locked and she was trapped inside, it triggered an intense flashback to the day,

more than a decade prior, when she had been trapped and helpless on the operating table.

To this day, Donna cannot stand to wear any clothing that is tight around her neck, because

it makes her feel like she can't breath and takes her back to her ordeal in the operating room.

No one knows exactly why Donna woke up during her surgery, but it's estimated that as many

as 1 in every 1,000 patients are believed to wake up at some point while under general anesthesia.

More recent studies show that this number may be even higher. It's yet another of the

many mysteries surrounding anesthesia and exactly how and why it works - or doesn't.

Thankfully, Donna's terrifying experience is rare. For most patients who get “put

under” with general anesthesia, the process goes smoothly and their surgeons are able

to do their work without the patient having any awareness of the trauma happening to their body.

When they wake up, usually about an hour after the anesthesiologist stops administering the drugs,

they have no memory of the experience. It can actually feel quite surreal - the last

thing they remember is the mask over their face as they drift off into unconsciousness,

and when they come to in the recovery room it can feel like no time at all has passed.

It's normal to feel a little “out of it” as the anesthesia wears off - patients can feel

emotional or loopy, may lack inhibitions or behave in an exaggerated manner,

and can have slurred speech for a few hours after anesthesia. If everything went smoothly,

it can actually be quite funny - at least for their loved ones and nurses. The process of coming

out of anesthesia is medically quite similar to the experience of a patient who has woken up from

a vegetative state, which makes sense when we think about the fact that being under anesthesia

is essentially being in a medically-induced coma. The stages of recovery are pretty much the same,

though they happen quite a bit faster when coming out of anesthesia.

Side effects are common after undergoing anesthesia. Most of them are not serious and

will go away on their own within a few hours to a few days. It's normal to experience vomiting,

dizziness, and headaches after waking up from anesthesia, and a sore throat or even a chest

infection can be expected as a result of the breathing tube that was used during the procedure.

Confusion and memory loss are also quite common, and usually resolve quickly. That said,

in very rare circumstances, more serious side effects can occur,

including nerve damage, a severe allergic reaction to the anesthesia drugs,

awareness during surgery - like what Donna experienced - and even, sometimes, death.

Even though we know very little about how anesthesia actually works, it's an essential - if

imperfect - tool in modern medicine, and it's not likely going anywhere anytime soon. Thankfully,

scientists are working hard to improve our understanding of how anesthesia works,

and to develop more advanced techniques to make anesthesia more effective and more targeted.

Anthony Hudetz works in the Department of Anesthesiology at the Medical College of

Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and he is just one of the many researchers working to better understand

and improve anesthesia. Hudetz imagines a world where anesthesia is less of a “hammer to the head,

knock-out” experience, and more of a delicate and specific tool.

"We can also develop better anesthetic drugs that would target consciousness itself,

because today's anesthetics affect every cell in the body," Hudetz says. "They suppress the heart

and they affect all the major organs; they affect the circulation; they suppress blood pressure,

heart rate. And this is tolerable but we mostly operate on injured people and sick people,

and in that case these side effects of anesthetics are undesirable and should be minimized."

Anesthesia researchers are learning a lot by collaborating with coma and sleep researchers

to share knowledge and develop more delicate tools that can help across multiple fields.

Hopefully, this will mean fewer harrowing stories like Donna's, and one day soon,

we might actually know how anesthesia puts you to sleep.

If you thought this video was shocking, you'll want to be sure and check out our other videos,

like this one called “The Most Painful Things A Human Can Experience”. Or,

maybe this other video is for you.

Learn languages from TV shows, movies, news, articles and more! Try LingQ for FREE

How Does Anesthesia Actually Put You to Sleep? ||마취||||| In what way||Induced unconsciousness||||| Nasıl||||||| Πώς η αναισθησία σας βάζει πραγματικά στον ύπνο; ¿Cómo se duerme realmente con la anestesia? 麻酔は実際にどのように眠らせるのか? 마취는 실제로 어떻게 잠들게 하나요? Como é que a anestesia adormece realmente? Как анестезия усыпляет? Anestezi Gerçekte Sizi Nasıl Uyutur? 麻醉究竟是如何让你入睡的? 麻醉實際上如何讓你入睡?

Knocked out, going under, sedated,  put to sleep...there are plenty of 제거했다||||||||||| ||||calmed with drugs|put to sleep|||||| Bayılmak|Baygın|||||||||| Nakavt edildi, bayıltıldı, sakinleştirildi, uyutuldu... bir sürü var

creative terms used to describe the  experience of being under anesthesia,

but how does anesthesia actually put you to  sleep? The crazy thing is, we don't actually

know for sure… but as you'll see in this  video, sometimes it can go horribly wrong….

Anesthesia is one of the most commonly  performed medical procedures out

there - more than 60,000 people undergo  anesthesia every single day in the U.S. ||||experience|loss of sensation|||||||

alone. Despite its prevalence  we still don't fully understand |||widespread occurrence||||| |||powszechność|||||

exactly how anesthesia works in the human body  to put us to sleep - we just know that it works. tam olarak||||||||||||||||||

The word anesthesia means ‘loss of sensation', ||Loss of feeling||||

and millions of Americans undergo anesthesia  every year to prevent them from feeling pain

and to keep them still and unresponsive so that  doctors can safely perform life saving operations

that would be incredibly difficult - not to  mention painful - to do to a conscious patient.

We may not fully understand how anesthesia  works, but that doesn't mean it isn't a real life

medical miracle. Before the late 1800s, the  only “drugs” we had to help patients through

painful procedures were things like alcohol,  opium and hemlock - hardly fool-proof methods. ||||||||poisonous plant extract|||| ||||||||cisy|||| В качестве болевых процедур использовались такие средства, как алкоголь, опиум и болиголов - методы, которые вряд ли можно назвать безотказными.

For centuries, medical procedures like tooth  extractions and fracture repairs were performed Eeuwenlang werden medische procedures zoals tandextracties en breukreparaties uitgevoerd

with very little - if any - pain relief for the  patient. But, beginning in the 1840s, scientists ||||||pain reduction|||||||||

discovered that some gases, like sulphuric ether  and chloroform, had sedative effects. Anesthesia ||||||||||calming or numbing||Sedative gas effects ||||||||||uspokajające||

was born, and medical treatment became wildly less  painful and traumatic than ever before in history. ||||||||||stressful and distressing|||||

Modern anesthesia cocktails are much safer  and more reliable than these first gases were,

but we're still at a loss to explain  exactly how they work to put us to sleep.

There are 4 categories of anesthesia - local,  regional, sedation and general anesthesia. Local |||||||calming medication state||||

anesthesia involves injecting a small amount of  the drug into a specific area. This is the type of

anesthesia you'd get at the doctor's office before  a filling or at the hospital before they stitch ||||||||||||||||local anesthetic injection

you up. It's also used after major surgeries to  help with pain as other, strong anesthesia begins

to wear off. Local anesthetic numbs only the  targeted area, and wears off relatively quickly. ||||lose its effect|desensitizes||||||||| |przechodzi||||znieczula|||||||||

Similar to local anesthesia, regional  anesthesia targets a specific area of the body,

though it is stronger than local anesthesia and  can block sensation to an entire section of the

body. Epidural injections to the spine that  are used to numb the lower body during labor, |Spinal anesthesia||||spinal column||||||||||

and femoral nerve blocks that are injected  into the femoral artery in the upper thigh |related to thigh|||||||||||||upper leg en dijbeenzenuwblokkades die in de dijbeenslagader in het bovenbeen worden geïnjecteerd

to freeze the entire leg for orthopedic surgery  are just a few examples of regional anesthesia. ||||||bone-related|||||||||

Both local and regional anesthesia leave the  patient fully conscious - they don't “put you

under”. We need stronger stuff for that. Regional  anesthesia is often combined with sedation. These

“twilight sedation” drugs make the patient  more relaxed and unfocused. They don't force light sedation||||||||||||

the patient into unconsciousness, but many people  do fall asleep under sedation due to the drowsy, |||||||||||||||sleepy or lethargic

sleepy feeling it induces. Sedation  doesn't affect breathing or reflexes,

making it less risky than full general  anesthesia, and it also wears off more quickly.

When you picture a patient lying unconscious  on the operating table waiting to be cut open,

what you're picturing is someone under general  anesthesia. General anesthetic affects the entire

body and works in 4 ways. It immobilizes the  body to stop it from moving during the procedure ||||||unieruchamia|||||||||| lichaam en werkt op 4 manieren. Het immobiliseert het lichaam om te voorkomen dat het tijdens de procedure beweegt

and acts as an analgesic to prevent  the patient from feeling any pain. ||||pain reliever|||||||| ||||środek przeciwbólowy||||||||

It also works on the brain by sedating  the patient in an unconscious state, |||||||calming down|||||| Het werkt ook op de hersenen door de patiënt in een bewusteloze toestand te kalmeren,

and even induces amnesia to ensure the  patient will have no memory of the experience.

In reality, “put to sleep” is not the best way  to describe what it's like to be under general

anesthesia - it's actually more like being in  a drug-induced coma. "It's a reversible coma,

but it's nevertheless a coma," says Emery Brown,  a professor of anesthesiology at Harvard Medical ||||||Emery Brown|||||||| ||||||Emery(1) Brown||||||||

School. When under general anesthesia, an  electroencephalogram, or EEG test, shows that ||||||brain activity test||||| ||||||||EEG|||

brain activity decreases down to levels very close  to what we expect to see in cases of brain-stem

death. It's no wonder patients find the euphemism  “put to sleep” to be a less scary description! |||||||passed away|||||||||

So, what does it actually feel like to  get “put under” with general anesthesia?

Donna Penner's story provides a glimpse into  the mysterious experience of being under woman's name|Donna Penner||||||||||| |Pennera|||||||||||

anesthesia - as well as a potent warning about how  sometimes, things can go terribly, terribly wrong. анестезии - а также мощное предупреждение о том, что иногда все может пойти ужасно, ужасно неправильно.

Donna, a 45 year old mother from Manitoba,  Canada, had been experiencing some worrying ||||||Manitoba, Canada|||||| ||||||Manitoba||||||

and unexplainable symptoms, so her doctor  recommended an exploratory abdominal surgery

to see if they could find the  cause of her mysterious issues.

On the day of her surgery, Donna was  understandably nervous to be “put under”, but

she was eager to get to the bottom of her unusual  symptoms. She met with her anesthesiologist, who ||||||||||||||||anesthesia specialist|

talked her through the process and assured her he  would be by her side the entire time. Since Donna

didn't have any of the risk factors that could  lead to a complication - she was a nonsmoker, ||||||||||||||||didn't smoke

not overweight, with no underlying medical  conditions - he assured her that things should

go smoothly, and that she wouldn't remember  a thing when she woke up after the operation.

The only downside was that Donna had to fast  for 6 hours before her surgery to ensure that

her stomach was empty and reduce the risk  of vomiting or choking while she was under. |||||||||||airway obstruction||||

Finally, Donna was prepped for surgery  and wheeled into the operating room, |||prepared for surgery||||moved on wheels||||

where she was greeted by her anesthesiologist.  As the surgeon was busy getting prepared for the |||welcomed by|||anesthesia specialist|||||||||

operation, the anesthesiologist placed a mask  over Donna's mouth and administered a cocktail |||||||Donna's mouth|||||

of hypnotic agents, opioids, muscle relaxants,  sedatives and cardiovascular drugs to Donna. |||pain-relief drugs|||calming medications||||| van hypnotica, opioïden, spierverslappers, sedativa en cardiovasculaire geneesmiddelen aan Donna.

He held her hand and comforted her as she drifted  into unconsciousness before inserting a breathing |||||||||slipped||||||

tube down her throat to help her breath and  prevent choking, since the anesthesia relaxes ||||||||||Airway obstruction prevention||||

breathing and coughing reflexes. He also placed  3 sticky patches on Donna's chest connected to an ||cough reflex||||||||||||

electrocardiogram, or ECG machine, to monitor her  heart rate, secured a blood pressure cuff on her |||||||||||||Blood pressure sleeve||

arm, and clipped a pulse oximeter to her finger  to monitor the oxygen level in Donna's blood. |||||oxygen level monitor||||||||||| arm en klemde een pulsoxymeter aan haar vinger om het zuurstofniveau in Donna's bloed te controleren.

True to his word, Donna's anesthesiologist  would remain by her side throughout the

entire operation, carefully monitoring  her stats and ensuring that she was

getting a continual dose of anesthesia  drugs. But, despite his watchful eye, ||||||||||vigilant|

there was one thing her anesthesiologist  couldn't see - Donna was actually awake.

Horrifically, Donna had woken up just before the  surgeon was about to make his very first cut.

She was fully conscious but immobilized,  unable to speak or to signal to the room

full of doctors and nurses that she was awake  and aware. She remained frozen in place on the

table as the surgeon sliced open her abdomen and  explored her insides, poking and prodding at her ||||||||||||prodding||examining thoroughly||

organs for hours. All the while, Donna could  feel everything - every excruciating slice, |||||||||||extremely painful|

every horrible movement. She was in terrible,  agonizing pain, and she was helpless to do

anything about it - she couldn't move or scream,  and she was sure she was going to die. “I thought,

‘This is it,” says Donna. “This is how I'm going  to die, right here on the table, and my family

will never know what my last few hours were like  because no one's even noticing what's going on.'”

Miraculously, Donna survived her ordeal,  though her recovery was long and painful. ||||difficult experience|||||||

Even once her body had healed, the experience  left her with lasting psychological scars. |||||||||||enduring||

She developed severe Post Traumatic Stress  Disorder, or PTSD, as a result of her horrific ||||||||trauma-induced condition||||||

experience on the operating table, and suffered  from anxiety and panic attacks for years.

Donna remembers having a full blown panic attack  one day when out shopping. She had stayed in the

car while her daughter quickly ran into the  store, but when Donna realized that the car

doors were locked and she was trapped inside,  it triggered an intense flashback to the day,

more than a decade prior, when she had been  trapped and helpless on the operating table. ||||more than a decade earlier|||||||powerless||||

To this day, Donna cannot stand to wear any  clothing that is tight around her neck, because

it makes her feel like she can't breath and takes  her back to her ordeal in the operating room. |||||||catch her breath|||||||traumatic experience||||

No one knows exactly why Donna woke up during  her surgery, but it's estimated that as many

as 1 in every 1,000 patients are believed to wake  up at some point while under general anesthesia.

More recent studies show that this number  may be even higher. It's yet another of the

many mysteries surrounding anesthesia and  exactly how and why it works - or doesn't.

Thankfully, Donna's terrifying experience  is rare. For most patients who get “put Fortunately|||||||||||

under” with general anesthesia, the process  goes smoothly and their surgeons are able

to do their work without the patient having any  awareness of the trauma happening to their body.

When they wake up, usually about an hour after the  anesthesiologist stops administering the drugs, ||||||||||||giving out||

they have no memory of the experience. It  can actually feel quite surreal - the last ||||||||||||dreamlike||

thing they remember is the mask over their  face as they drift off into unconsciousness, |||||||||||fall asleep|||

and when they come to in the recovery room  it can feel like no time at all has passed.

It's normal to feel a little “out of it” as  the anesthesia wears off - patients can feel

emotional or loopy, may lack inhibitions  or behave in an exaggerated manner, ||Uninhibited or exaggerated|||self-restraint|||||Overly dramatic behavior|

and can have slurred speech for a few hours  after anesthesia. If everything went smoothly, |||unclear or slow|||||||||||without issues

it can actually be quite funny - at least for  their loved ones and nurses. The process of coming

out of anesthesia is medically quite similar to  the experience of a patient who has woken up from

a vegetative state, which makes sense when we  think about the fact that being under anesthesia |Unresponsive condition||||||||||||||

is essentially being in a medically-induced coma.  The stages of recovery are pretty much the same,

though they happen quite a bit  faster when coming out of anesthesia.

Side effects are common after undergoing  anesthesia. Most of them are not serious and |||||experiencing|anesthetic procedure|||||||

will go away on their own within a few hours to  a few days. It's normal to experience vomiting,

dizziness, and headaches after waking up from  anesthesia, and a sore throat or even a chest Lightheadedness||||||||||painful or tender|||||

infection can be expected as a result of the  breathing tube that was used during the procedure.

Confusion and memory loss are also quite  common, and usually resolve quickly. That said,

in very rare circumstances, more  serious side effects can occur,

including nerve damage, a severe allergic  reaction to the anesthesia drugs,

awareness during surgery - like what Donna  experienced - and even, sometimes, death. consciousness during surgery||||||||||

Even though we know very little about how  anesthesia actually works, it's an essential - if

imperfect - tool in modern medicine, and it's not  likely going anywhere anytime soon. Thankfully, not ideal|||||||||||||

scientists are working hard to improve  our understanding of how anesthesia works,

and to develop more advanced techniques to make  anesthesia more effective and more targeted.

Anthony Hudetz works in the Department of  Anesthesiology at the Medical College of Anthony Hudetz|a surname||||||Anesthesia department|||||

Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and he is just one of the  many researchers working to better understand Wisconsin state|Milwaukee city|||||||||||||

and improve anesthesia. Hudetz imagines a world  where anesthesia is less of a “hammer to the head,

knock-out” experience, and more  of a delicate and specific tool.

"We can also develop better anesthetic drugs  that would target consciousness itself,

because today's anesthetics affect every cell in  the body," Hudetz says. "They suppress the heart ||||||||||||inhibit||

and they affect all the major organs; they affect  the circulation; they suppress blood pressure,

heart rate. And this is tolerable but we mostly  operate on injured people and sick people,

and in that case these side effects of anesthetics  are undesirable and should be minimized."

Anesthesia researchers are learning a lot by  collaborating with coma and sleep researchers

to share knowledge and develop more delicate  tools that can help across multiple fields.

Hopefully, this will mean fewer harrowing  stories like Donna's, and one day soon, |||||distressing|||||||

we might actually know how  anesthesia puts you to sleep.

If you thought this video was shocking, you'll  want to be sure and check out our other videos,

like this one called “The Most Painful  Things A Human Can Experience”. Or,

maybe this other video is for you.