Fan death

Fan death is the widespread South Korean belief that sleeping in a sealed room with an operating electric fan can cause death. The proposed explanations are medically unsupported.

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Electric fan: An electrically powered device that moves air using rotating blades. The ordinary appliance at the center of the belief.
Thermoregulation: The physiological processes that maintain an organism's internal temperature. The claim that fans dangerously lower body temperature conflicts with how healthy bodies regulate heat.
Scientific skepticism: The practice of evaluating claims through evidence, reproducible tests, and critical reasoning. It distinguishes proposed fan-death mechanisms from explanations supported by evidence.
Risk perception: The ways people interpret and judge the likelihood and severity of hazards. Fan death shows how a familiar device can acquire a perceived risk unsupported by its physical effects.
South Korea: A country occupying the southern part of the Korean Peninsula in East Asia. Fan death became especially widespread as a belief in this country.
Hypothermia: A dangerous drop in core body temperature below the level needed for normal function. It is sometimes invoked as a fan-death mechanism, though ordinary fan use does not cause it in a sealed room.
Confirmation bias: The tendency to favor information that supports existing beliefs while discounting conflicting evidence. A death after fan use can reinforce the belief even when timing alone shows no cause.
Health communication: The study and practice of communicating information about health risks and decisions. Public warnings about fans illustrate how risk messages can persist without sound evidence.
Korean media: The institutions and channels that produce and distribute news and entertainment in Korea. News reports and public messaging helped circulate fan-death warnings.
Carbon dioxide poisoning: Harm caused by inhaling carbon dioxide at concentrations that disrupt normal physiology. A fan does not consume room oxygen or produce carbon dioxide; combustion and other sources create different hazards.