[GlendaleViper]

Thanks for the post. As someone who sleeps with cans on, it's good to hear stories like this to remind you not to take your surroundings forgranted. Glad to know everything turned out ok for you too!

Far as all the people slamming you for the candle - I agree they obviously didn't read your post fully. But let's give 'em the benefit of the doubt: Perhaps flaming you was an attempt at an implied pun?

Anyway, a couple of people already brought this up but I wanted to second it with a few examples. This is regarding the temporary deafness. First, if you already have a panic disorder, this will absolutely contribute to loss of awareness. My girlfriend and another person I know have experienced the exact same thing and suffer from panic attacks.
Secondly, I'm going to say you were in fact woken by the alarm. If you were in a full, deep REM sleep, the sub-conscious is still active (and prominent) if you startle awake. I've had nightmares where I was being held down and when I suddenly awoke, I couldn't move for up to a minute. More commonly, think of a time you were woken up by the telephone - which you answered and even conversed on - and upon waking up again, found out later you had no idea you spoke with anyone!

The subconscious is a bizarre, misunderstood and POWERFUL component of human sentience. Never underestimate it!

 

[erdinc]

I think I know why you couldn't hear the fire alarm. Here is my theory:

While we sleep our brain keeps working and our senses are still active. During sleep the information gathered by our senses is processed in an unconscious section of our brain. That unconscious section decides whether or not the information is alarming and then decides whether or not to pass that information to the conscious section. This is actually why we wake up.

Just before you went asleep your conscious perception was telling your unconscious perception that the music you were hearing should be considered as normal. Your unconscious perception was overruled. This way it was possible that you could go to sleep with the music on. I think when the fire alarm started your unconscious perception decided that this was something ignorable, smillar to the ignorance of the music a while before, and didn't pass that information to the conscious section.

 

[The_Duke_Of_Eli]

I don't see the problem with sleeping with headphones if they can stand up to it. The problem I see is sleeping with an open flame. Solution? Use a lamp or something or put it in a casing so nothing can get in and if it falls over the oxygen is blocked off so the light goes out.

 

[Vincent19]

I'm going to go ahead and make a post which I am sure will get me called all sorts of names implying my idiocy, so I'll just rack it up to masochistic tendency and an insatiable craving for insightful responses.

Anyway, here goes: Why is it so dangerous to leave a candle burning while you sleep?

Now, I'm dumb, but I'm not that dumb, so I understand the situations where there would be obvious danger involved. Rather than rambling about those, I'll give a situation where I feel that leaving a candle burning wouldn't be overtly dangerous, and you can all tell me why, in fact, it would be.

Placing a candle with a wide base on a large, nonflammable surface (like a plate) completely away from anything it could really catch on fire (like on top of a large empty desk).

In a case like that, I feel that it wouldn't be dangerous to leave a candle burning in any way other than the typical, "You should never leave a flame burning unattended, no matter what" way.

I'm wrong. Why?

 

[fewtch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vincent19 Placing a candle with a wide base on a large, nonflammable surface (like a plate) completely away from anything it could really catch on fire (like on top of a large empty desk). In a case like that, I feel that it wouldn't be dangerous to leave a candle burning in any way other than the typical, "You should never leave a flame burning unattended, no matter what" way. I'm wrong. Why?

Well, people certainly did this all the time back in the days before electricity. Should be safe enough if you're really careful about it.

 

[Dane]

Glad you're OK!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vincent19 I'm wrong. Why?

You're not wrong I guess. I've used candles all my life and they always just go out when they burn down (what else could they do?). However, the average person/child is more likely to understand a "NEVER do this..." message than a "Take these precautions when you do this..." type of message. That being said I would never sleep with a lit candle.

I think that the OP is being somewhat flamed because he warns against sleeping with headphones when these were not related to the incident. He woke immediately when the alarm went off and had a chock causing temporary deafness (even when not wearing the headphones). How are the headphones involved? He could just as well warn against wearing a pyjamas.

 

[Purgatos]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GlendaleViper More commonly, think of a time you were woken up by the telephone - which you answered and even conversed on - and upon waking up again, found out later you had no idea you spoke with anyone!

Once philodox called and woke me up and I thought it had all been a dream until I saw that there was a record of it on my phone.

 

[egglick]

And the moral of the story is: Don't light candles in the bedroom.

Unless you're a firebug that likes to light crap on fire (like me, a little bit), I really don't see the usefulness of candles. Sure, they can help you seduce your woman with a fancy dinner, or keep mosquitos away outside, but beyond that, they're just decorative and/or traditional.

There's certainly no reason to be lighting them when you're alone in your bedroom at night. That can't be a fun way to go out.

 

[deez]

Recently a thread about sleeping with headphones on was posted here having nothing to do with fire. When I glanced first at this one I thought it had been resurrected. I posted something about how you could poke your eyes out with headphone parts and recommended against sleeping with cans on.

I guess this brings a whole new aspect into the picture as far as sleeping with headphones safety is concerned. Thank goodness you're OK.

 

[skylinedo]

my house has a sprinkler system, all my electronics would be doused w/ water should any of my stuff catch fire

 

[RasmusseN]

what kind of man lights candles before he goes to sleep.......

 

[Jam_Master_J]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RasmusseN /img/forum/go_quote.gif what kind of man lights candles before he goes to sleep.......

Same kind of guy who replies to a 10 month old thread

 

[GlorytheWiz825]

Yikes. Glad to hear you're alright. I also listen to headphones when I'm in bed, but always take them off when I'm dosing off. I also do no use candles. I think the real problem here is the candle and not the headphones. Of course, the headphone can still prevent you from hearing the fire alarm if someone else started a fire. So the safest thing to do is to listen to headphones but remove them when you feel yourself dosing off.

 

[Pm@c]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeavyBassMan /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi all, I thought this was pretty serious and therfore had to post. Last night, I put my phones on and went to bed. This is something I always do.. I had previously lit a candle in my bedroom and intended to distinguish the flame before I finally went to sleep. I love candlelight. Here is what happend. At 5:00am, I suddenly awoke. Something was not quiet right. I could NOT hear. I worked out that my music had stopped (sleep timer), and my phones were still on my head. Upon my sleepy daze of waking at 5am, I looked down to the end of my bed. What I saw shocked me. There were flames at the foot of my bed. I had gone to sleep without putting out the candle. Something under the candle caught on fire. I took my phones off as quick as I could. I thought I was having a nightmare. This was every bit real though. Once the phones were off.. I could not hear at all.. and it took about 30 seconds until I regained my hearing. Only then could I hear the smoke alarm which was VERY loud, just outside my bedroom door. I put out the fire, and stopped the smoke alarm. I was in absolute shock. Wearing headphones had prevented me from hearing the smoke alarm. I am very thankfull that I woke up. I would hate to think what could have happened if I chose my IEMs instead I've read reports that indicate it is common for people to sleep through their smoke alarms.. and this is WITHOUT having any headphones on...now I believe this is true. Lighting the candle and not putting it out was a very stupid thing to do. I learned my lesson and I will never do that again. Wearing headphones only made things worse. This is a real warning for everyone who sleeps with their headphones. Fires can and do happen all the time. Please don't think 'this will never happen to me'.. I thought something like this would 'never happen to me' ....it just did. I was so lucky. I live alone, I could have easily not woken up. I could have died.

Ok...umm... it isnt smart to go to sleep with an active flame REGARDLESS of whether you have headphones on or not. If there is an active flame in the house and you fall asleep, of course it could start a fire. Frigging extinguish it before you go to bed next time.

 

[kramer5150]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jam_Master_J /img/forum/go_quote.gif Same kind of guy who replies to a 10 month old thread

LOL!!!

I remember this thread... seems like eons ago.
I use one of those flickering LED lights they sell during halloween for pumpins and stuff. It comes reasonably close enough to a lit flame.