According to South Korean urban legend, sleeping in a closed room with a fan on all night can kill you. Doctors and researchers say that’s a lot of hot air, and there’s no scientific evidence to support the idea. That hasn’t stopped the local media, fan manufacturers, government agencies, and even some health practitioners from telling people they’re putting their lives at risk by running the appliance at night in the summer. In fact, the government’s Korea Consumer Agency said it estimates that about 7-10 people a year perish by “fan death.” South Korea's biggest fan maker Shinil Industrial Co. issues warnings with their products telling customers to keep fans pointed away from humans at night. "This product may cause suffocation or hypothermia," the warning reads. One reason for blaming deaths of this sort on fans may be due to lazy investigators, said Seoul National University Hospital professor Yoo Tai-woo. "People believe in fan death because (1) they see a dead body and (2) a fan is running,” said Yoo. "But normal, healthy people don't die because they slept with a fan running.” Popular theories behind fan death include fans causing a chemical change in the air; fans generating a vortex of air that prevents breathing, and that prolonged exposure to a breeze when the metabolism slows down at night can lead to hypothermia. Experts say running a fan in the summer would not cause any of the above health threats, especially hypothermia. Nevertheless, South Koreans remain unconvinced. Many people make sure their fan is on a timer, that it’s facing a wall, and that a window or door is open.
