[EvaH (OP)]

Robin asks:

Could human beings ever hibernate? Is it possible? Would be quite a useful way of surviving a tough winter and also a pandemic!

What do you think?

[axscientist]

Technically, we can. Bears and even some primates are able to hibernate, which means us humans are also able to do so.

Hibernation is "a response to cold weather and reduced food availability". We don't hibernate because our ancestors  lived in warm areas where hibernation wasn't necessary for survival. Humans have only moved into colder places in the last hundred thousand years or so, so we haven't had enough time to evolve into hibernating animals.

Some humans back then actually did survive harsh winters by hibernating, but they weren't a part of the majority of the people who didn't hibernate.

[Bored chemist]

Maybe...
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003552120300832

[set fair]

Technically, we can.

What planet are you from?
We can or we can't. There's no such thing as tecnically we can.

[Zer0]

Hi Robin
😊

Technically...umm...umm...We are still trying to reach there.
Not there as Yet, Not even close...
But We definitely know which Direction We need to proceed further inorder for Us to Finally get there.
👍

https://www.nasa.gov/content/torpor-inducing-transfer-habitat-for-human-stasis-to-mars

Thanks & Credits & Kudos - NASA
🙏

[Petrochemicals]

Technically, we can. Bears and even some primates are able to hibernate, which means us humans are also able to do so.

Technically bears do not hibernate, the go into something called a torpor. I am unsure of the primates. Hibernation has the body temperature drop to ambient to the point that some animals drop just below 0c body temperature, the head being just above. The metabolic rate almost ceases unlike in bears.

https://sciencesimplyexplained.com/do-bears-hibernate-in-winter/

[Petrochemicals]

Technically, we can. Bears and even some primates are able to hibernate, which means us humans are also able to do so.

Technically bears do not hibernate, the go into something called a torpor. I am unsure of the primates. Hibernation has the body temperature drop to ambient to the point that some animals drop just below 0c body temperature, the head being just above. The metabolic rate almost ceases unlike in bears.

https://sciencesimplyexplained.com/do-bears-hibernate-in-winter/

I have just remembered humans who cease to breath and circulate blood often are capable of being revived if they have been at very low temperatures even if it is a matter of hours without breath, so in a way hiberhation is possible in humans. I am not sure of the medical processes of decomposition or damage, really you need a medical person for that, but cold seems to stop this. I believe it requires a quick chill though.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0300957214005243

[scarlettzou]

No one is sure if humans can hibernate, but there are reports of humans falling into hibernation-like states.