Can you suffocate sleeping like this?

[JakeRS]

Whenever I go to visit my sister,I always notice that she (at least in the morning) has pillows on her head while sleeping,so I was wondering is it dangerous to sleep like that and what if you slept on your stomach and couldn't breath because of the pillow or something? Would you suffocate (I read about people having to take care of their babies not to lay on their stomach,probably because of this..) or is there like a ,,fail safe mechanism,, for this?

[ksdnfkfr]

Pretty sure a healthy young person would wake up gasping if they started to suffocate. Seems too easy to just roll over in your sleep and bury your face in a pillow. I would think that that if she is partly restricting her airflow, that's not healthy.

[JamesSuperBoy]

I think she would wake up so do not worry.

[Rallo]

It's actually quite amazing how the body works to wake ones brain in a situation like this.
Usually your body will automatically move slightly (usually your leg(s) or arm(s)) causing you to wake up before anything overly bad happens.
I still wouldn't say relying on this would be the greatest of ideas though, but it shouldn't serve as a problem.

[NeuroTiger]

It's certainly not healthy breathing having pillows covering the nostrils or sleeping on the stomach.
It isn't as such a danger for the human body though since our brain is amazing in causing a reflex action in response to the probable danger like suffocation.
It isn't dangerous but mostly unhealthy.

[From Chris]

Whenever I go to visit my sister,I always notice that she (at least in the morning) has pillows on her head while sleeping,so I was wondering is it dangerous to sleep like that and what if you slept on your stomach and couldn't breath because of the pillow or something? Would you suffocate (I read about people having to take care of their babies not to lay on their stomach,probably because of this..) or is there like a ,,fail safe mechanism,, for this?

Unless the person is an infant there isn't much to worry about. If you have a sudden loss of oxygen you will most likely wake up. However if your sister is an infant, you should not have any pillows in their crib as it is a suffocation hazard. :)

-Chris <3