Dying in your sleep is a very rare occurrence, especially if you're young and overall healthy.
Although risk of dying in your sleep increases, the older you get and if you have any other underlying health conditions like sleep apnea or heart disease, etc.
The most common cause of dying in your sleep is a result of sudden cardiac arrest and stroke.
Although even other health issues such as certain lung diseases, untreated epilepsy and even specific diabetes complications can also increase your risk of dying in your sleep.
Sudden cardiac arrest is the most common and most frequent cause of dying in your sleep and is often linked to undiagnosed heart issues like irregular heartbeat or arrhythmia or coronary artery disease.
When you get into your 80s and 90s your chances of dying in your sleep also increase.
My Grandma lived to 95 years old and was overall healthy the day before she died and she went to sleep and never woke up and was peaceful.
Other conditions like COPD, complications from diabetes like hypoglycemia, low blood sugar is also referred to as dead in bed syndrome.
And sudden unexpected death in epilepsy also known as SUDEP is the leading cause of death for people whose seizures not fully controlled by medication.
Obstructive sleep apnea also increases your risk of sudden cardiac death in your sleep, especially in older adults that have low oxygen levels or more severe sleep apnea.
And a stroke that is caused by a blood clot that blocks blood flow to your brain, is another leading cause of death during sleeping.
The people most at risk for dying in their sleep are people with sleep apnea, the elderly, especially with other underlying health issues, people with severe chronic lung disease, people with poorly controlled epilepsy and people that have existing heart conditions, like high blood pressure, heart failure or coronary artery disease.