Is it dangerous to sleep with a fan right next to your face?

[TheSwedishFish]

I read that the wind blowing on your face creates a vacuum (like when you are in a car and stick your head out of the window) and people can suffocate from this and there are warnings in Korea on fans about this danger.

[Hadouken]

at the very least you can get a cold easily

and I dont think that it is healthy for the brain either

so I wouldnt do it

[Marusya]

Here is the definition of Fan Death: Koreans believe that during summer, in an enclosed room (i.e. all doors and windows shut), an electric fan running directly on your body could kill you while you sleep. Elderly, children, and people sleeping drunk are at the greatest risk. To prevent this, Koreans either open a window a crack, or use a button on the fan that makes it either oscillate or shut off after a certain amount of time.

How does a fan kill? The most common explanations that Koreans generally offer are two. The most prevalent explanation is that the fan used directly on your body causes suffocation, because the fast-moving air around your face makes inhalation difficult. Alternatively, some Koreans also offer that breathing through skin constitutes a significant proportion of breathing, and the fast-moving air caused by the fan makes the skin-breathing difficult, leading to suffocation.

The other prevalent explanation is hypothermia, i.e. abnormally low body temperature. The idea is simpler – fan lowers body heat through dehydration, ultimately to the extent that it could kill.

If these explanations sound ludicrous, that’s because they are.

Here is the science of how a fan could kill. Remember the conditions under which Koreans say Fan Deaths happen – summer (=heat), enclosed room, fan directly on the body. An electric fan cools your body in two ways: by pushing cooler air onto your body, and by allowing your sweat to dry rapidly and take away heat in that process.

But clearly, the fan does not generate the cool air on its own, unlike an air conditioner. And eventually -- especially if you are a passed-out drunk who is already somewhat dehydrated from the alcohol -- your body will run out of water to turn into sweat. So what happens when it is very hot, but the entire room is enclosed such that no cool air comes in from outside, and you have no more sweat to cool your body with?


Basically, the entire room turns into a gigantic turbo oven. Turbo oven is a conventional oven that has a fan inside that continues to blow air onto the food. This oven is known to cook at lower temperature than a regular oven, yet cook more quickly. Similarly, in a heated room without an outside source of airflow, very hot air is constantly pushed directly to your body, which is a far more effective way of raising your body temperature rather than “baking” in hot air. If you get enough of this, you would die – of hyperthermia, or abnormally high body temperature.

So Korean people had it right after all – fans can kill. They just tend to give the wrong reason.

A pamphlet from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, at pages 49 and 51, clearly states the hazard of using portable electric fans during high heat. It specifically says “Portable electric fans can … increase the circulation of hot air, which increases thermal stress and health risks[,]” and “DON’T use a portable electric fan in a closed room without windows or doors open to the outside.”

The misunderstanding about the cause of Fan Death is the fault of Korean media. Korean media has been careless reporting cases of Fan Death. Recently, Korean media itself is realizing this point. According to a Dong-A Ilbo article, there simply has been no scientific effort to prove Fan Death, even in cases where the fan was supposed to be responsible. There have been no papers on this topic, and no autopsy performed on the person who supposedly died from Fan Death. To reiterate: Fan Death is real. The causal mechanism is causing death is very clear; Koreans who warn of Fan Death warn of the exact conditions under which such causation would occur; and it is very plausible that such causation will in fact occur in Korea. However, this can be said: Most likely, not all cases of Fan Death reported in Korean media are truly Fan Death.

[TheSwedishFish]

I can't breathe when a gust of wind blows in my face
Until I see a video of someone sleeping with a fan on max setting blowing right at their face, I remain skeptical!

In korea there are warning labels on fans issued by the government
I've been to korea and saw them, you can also see these labels on google images

[Grenzland]

Yes, that's true. Fans are killing us! Let's fight them back!

[Hadouken]

Yes, that's true. Fans are killing us! Let's fight them back!

only the psycho fans who become stalkers

[Marusya]

I told you: FAN DEATH IS REAL! But, only in S. Korea!

[Linebacker]

What the problem with getting and air conditioner,they cost probably a bit more than a fan but they do a much better job at cooling AND it can't kill you(Unless you haven't mounted it properly and it falls on you in your sleep)

[StormBringer]

Maybe it's an East Asian thing like Koro (http://questionabletales.comicgenesis.com/tpw6.html).

[Jackson]

Rise of the machines, the fans are simply the vanguard...FIGHT!