Let's say that one day, you get hit in the head with a baseball.

Ouch.

It hurt but you brush it off.

You go home and you go to sleep, but what if that hit did more damage than you thought?

What if you never woke up?

A coma is a prolonged state of unconsciousness.

Someone in a coma is unresponsive to touch, sound, and pain.

There's minimal brain activity, and the patient may not be able to swallow or breathe on their own.

Usually, comas don't last more than a few weeks, but sometimes people never wake up.

The roots of consciousness aren't fully understood, but it's believed that for humans to be awake and conscious, a few things in the brain need to be functioning properly.

First, the Reticular Activating System, a group of neurons that dictates wakefulness, needs to be in good shape.

Second, both cerebral hemispheres in your brain need to be fully intact.

A coma is the result of either a dysfunction of the RAS, or damage to both cerebral hemispheres.

This can happen in a number of ways.

Traumatic brain injury.

A stroke.

Drug or alcohol overdose.

A brain tumor.

A really bad infection.

And even diabetes can lead to a coma.

But, what's really going on when you're in a coma?

In a comatose state, brain activity is minimal, but the brain is still alive and consuming energy from the body.

The brain's networks are rerouted.

So, normally active areas go quiet and usually dark areas light up with activity.

As for the actual experience, different people recall different things.

Many remember terrifying visions of torture and death.

Others remember happy dreams with loved ones.

But some don't remember anything at all about their coma.

They remember riding their bike, and then getting hit by a car, and then all of a sudden,

they're lying in a hospital bed six months later.

I hope they get some free jello out of it at least.

Some people say they could hear conversations happening around them when they were in their coma, and there's actually science to back that up!

Researchers found that comatose people can hear and that hearing loved ones voices even increases neural activity and speeds recovery.

Another study found that some comatose patients can feel pain, even if they don't respond to it.

So, being in a coma that was the result of a serious injury could be super painful.

And you couldn't even ask for more pain meds.

It's hard to know for sure if someone in a coma will wake up, but something commonly used by doctors to monitor a patient's status is the Glasgow Coma Scale.

A higher score on this scale means that someone could be more likely to recover.

Some people even wake up from their comas fully functional!

But others don't.

It's not uncommon for a person to wake up from a coma with serious physical or mental disabilities, like amnesia.

And some people never wake up at all.

A coma can progress into a persistent vegetative state or even locked-in syndrome,

when a person is aware of themselves and their surroundings but cannot speak or move.

So, have you or anyone you've known woken up from a coma?

What was the experience like?

If you're comfortable with sharing, let us know in the comment section below.

If you enjoyed this video, you're definitely gonna wanna check out our video on what would happen if you never left your bed.

The sores usually occur in areas like your tailbone, hips, and shoulder blades.

And be warned, they're not pretty.

Not even with a little bit of coral blue lipstick.

Also, you'll start to get weaker.

My name is Blocko.

This has been Life Noggin!

Don't forget to keep on thinking!