Why does an RAS child sleep for so long after an attack?
Unsure. It is probably the brain recovering from the shock of the attack. During a RAS attack the heart stops beating for normally 5 – 30 seconds, after about 9-10 seconds lack of blood supply to the brain makes the normal electrical activity in the cerebral cortex (the thinking, conscious part of the brain) turn off. When the heart starts beating again, the cerebral cortex comes on again but is sleepy for up to a couple of hours, as it gets over the ‘shock’. This does NO damage to the brain.
