Vice Media was built on the back of people who should have known better going someplace dangerous and doing something stupid. But some of the site’s extreme science stuff is interesting. An excerpt from Blanca Talavera’s Q&A with an anonymous sufferer of hypnophobia, the fear of sleep:

“Question:

What was it that triggered it in your case?

J.: 

It all began with a vermian injury [a brain injury that causes loss of balance and dizziness]. One night in August 2010, while having dinner and watching television, I suddenly lost consciousness for a few seconds. I fell off the couch. Immediately after I came to, alone and unaided, I went to the hospital.

The treatment I received was very bad and the doctors thought my problem was a ‘mania’ or something ‘invented.’ The psychiatrist and the doctor diagnosed me with ‘hypochondria and a psychosomatic problem.’ This was the starting point of my hypnophobia. …

Question:

You’ve said that you do everything you can in order to not to fall asleep. What do you usually do?

J.: 

When I prepare to sleep I suffer a gradual increase of anxiety. My body triggers episodes of panic and choking, to prevent me from falling asleep. It’s hard to explain, you have to feel it: My pulse quickens, I tremble, I don’t know what to do. You feel powerless. The situation, your subconscious dominates you.

Besides that, I sometimes consciously get out of bed and go out desperately seeking help. I’ve gone to mental health centers, where instead of helping me, what they did was aggravate my condition with pills and drugs. I have thought about ending it all, but let’s say I am a strong person. I have an inner strength that keeps me from doing that.

Question:

When you do fall asleep, do you rest well?

J.: 

When I sleep, it is because I fall asleep. Still, my mind plays tricks on me, reacting as a self-defense mechanism to keep my consciousness from relaxing and disconnecting from reality to have a restful sleep. I guess the brain disconnects because it knows that if you do not sleep, you die.”