--- description: Doctors appear to be no closer to determining why residents of a remote area in Kazakhstan fall asleep for days at a time title: Sleeping Disorder Kazakhstan: People Falling Asleep For Days image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Kazakhstan](/tag/kazakhstan/) ## Kazakhstan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Doctors Can't Explain Why People in Kazakhstan Are Falling Asleep For Days ## Video: A Year in Space: The Mission [Watch (HLS stream): A Year in Space: The Mission](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/gEqrnCPI.m3u8) (3:59)  _Published 2015-03-24. On March 28, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly begins a historic year in Space. Time follows Kelly and his twin brother, Mark, as they work the test the boundaries of long-term space travel._  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Mar 26, 2015 12:19 PM CUT  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Mar 26, 2015 12:19 PM CUT Two years since a mysterious sleeping disorder in Siberia [picked up steam](http://siberiantimes.com/other/others/features/siberian-experts-say-they-can-solve-the-cause-of-mystery-sleeping-disorder/ "undefined"), doctors appear to be [no closer](http://siberiantimes.com/other/others/features/f0061-still-no-clue-as-to-what-is-causing-sleep-sickness-in-kazakh-village/ "undefined") to figuring out why residents of a remote area in Kazakhstan are falling asleep without warning for days at a time, according to reports from the _Siberian_ _Times_. The ailment has affected hundreds people living nearby a uranium mine in the Kazakh village of Kalachi. The town’s residents will fall asleep suddenly for a period lasting from two to six days and wake up with memory loss. Experts have conducted thousands of tests on patients as well as on local soil and water to determine the cause of the disorder but have come to few conclusions, according to the _Siberian Times._ Despite the location, tests have not found high radiation levels. Sergei Lukashenko, the director of Kazakhstan’s National Nuclear Centre’s Radiation Safety and Ecology Institute, told the _Siberian Times_ that he is “positive this is not radon” and speculated that carbon monoxide may contribute to the problem. “We have some suspicions as the village has a peculiar location and weather patterns frequently force chimney smoke to go down instead of up,” he said. Carbon monoxide is a key contaminant in smoke. Many of the town’s residents have left the village and officials say that it will be closed off in May. A Russian professor investigating the ailment told [_Newsweek_](http://www.newsweek.com/mysterious-kazakhstan-sleeping-sickness-could-spread-311324 "undefined") earlier this month that it could spread. _Read next:_ [_Heavy Rains Wreak Havoc in Northern Chile, One of the Driest Places on Earth_](http://time.com/3759411/chile-heavy-rains-andes-atacama-desert/?iid=time%5Freadnext "undefined") [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3759511/sleeping-disorder-kazakhstan/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3759511/sleeping-disorder-kazakhstan/"},"headline":"Doctors Can't Explain Why People in Kazakhstan Are Falling Asleep For Days","datePublished":"2015-03-26T12:19:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T05:27:32.321Z","description":"A town's residents will fall asleep suddenly for a period lasting from two to six days and wake up with memory loss","url":"https://time.com/3759511/sleeping-disorder-kazakhstan/","keywords":["Kazakhstan","health"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/kazakhstan/","name":"Kazakhstan"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3759511/sleeping-disorder-kazakhstan/","name":"Doctors Can't Explain Why People in Kazakhstan Are Falling Asleep For Days"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"A Year in Space: The Mission","description":"On March 28, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly begins a historic year in Space. Time follows Kelly and his twin brother, Mark, as they work the test the boundaries of long-term space travel.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/gEqrnCPI/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-03-24T14:30:40.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/gEqrnCPI.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3759511/sleeping-disorder-kazakhstan/","duration":"PT3M59S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3759511/sleeping-disorder-kazakhstan/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```