The sudden death of Prashant Tamang at 43 has shocked fans and doctors alike. The singer and actor reportedly went to bed feeling fine. He never woke up. Doctors say the cause was sudden cardiac arrest, a quiet but deadly event that often strikes during sleep.
A familiar night, a fatal morning
By all accounts, the night was ordinary.
Prashant Tamang slept peacefully at home, family members said. There were no warning signs, no frantic calls, no visible distress. Morning came, and he did not wake up.
He was rushed to the hospital. Doctors declared him dead on arrival.
The phrase “sudden cardiac arrest” has appeared in headlines far too often lately. Athletes, professionals, artists, people in their forties. People who looked fine the day before. In Tamang’s case, the shock cut deeper because of how quietly it happened.
Cardiologists say this pattern is unsettling, but sadly, not rare.
Why cardiac arrest often strikes during sleep
Night-time cardiac arrests confuse many people.
How can someone go to bed healthy and never wake up?
According to cardiologists, the answer lies in how the body behaves during sleep. At night, the nervous system shifts gears. The parasympathetic system takes charge. Heart rate slows. Blood pressure drops. Breathing patterns change.
This is normal. But for some hearts, this calm becomes dangerous.
Electrical signals control every heartbeat. During sleep, these signals can subtly change. In people with hidden rhythm disorders, those changes can trigger arrhythmias. The heart may suddenly beat too fast, too slow, or chaotically.
One bad rhythm. One moment. The heart stops.
Doctors say the risk window often sits between midnight and early morning hours, when heart rate variability is highest and oxygen levels can dip.
And the person never feels pain.
The silent role of undiagnosed heart disease
One uncomfortable truth keeps surfacing.
Many people who suffer sudden cardiac arrest had no idea anything was wrong.
India, especially urban India, is seeing heart disease appear earlier than ever. By age 40, a large number of adults already have at least one risk factor, sometimes several. High cholesterol. Borderline diabetes. Elevated blood pressure. Chronic stress. Poor sleep.
These conditions do not always cause symptoms. You can sing, act, travel, laugh, and still carry an electrical instability in your heart.
Doctors point out that structural heart issues, inherited rhythm disorders, or scarring from old viral infections can sit unnoticed for years.
Then one night, under the wrong conditions, they surface.
No chest pain. No warning. Just silence.
Sleep apnea, snoring, and oxygen drops after midnight
One major risk factor often overlooked is sleep apnea.
Loud snoring is not just noise. In many cases, it signals repeated pauses in breathing during sleep. When breathing stops, oxygen levels fall. The heart strains to compensate.
Over time, this stress reshapes heart rhythm patterns.
During apnea episodes, the body swings between oxygen deprivation and sudden surges of adrenaline. This back-and-forth increases the risk of lethal arrhythmias, especially at night.
Doctors say sleep apnea dramatically raises the chances of night-time cardiac arrest, particularly in people who also have obesity, diabetes, or high blood pressure.
Many patients dismiss snoring as harmless. It is anything but.
Why younger Indians are increasingly at risk
Cardiologists are seeing a clear shift.
Heart events are no longer confined to the elderly. People in their late thirties and early forties are now regular patients. The reasons are layered and messy.
Urban lifestyles have changed fast. Long work hours. Screen-heavy days. Irregular meals. Late nights. Chronic stress that never switches off.
Add genetic predisposition, and the heart pays the price early.
Doctors also note that routine cardiac screening is often skipped unless symptoms appear. Many Indians avoid check-ups until something feels wrong. Unfortunately, sudden cardiac arrest does not wait for discomfort.
Some of the most common hidden contributors include:
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Early-onset cholesterol buildup without symptoms
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Mild but untreated high blood pressure
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Undiagnosed rhythm disorders
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Sleep-related breathing issues
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Family history of sudden death
Each factor alone may seem manageable. Together, they can turn deadly.
What happens inside the body at night
Sleep is not one steady state.
The body cycles through different stages. Deep sleep. Light sleep. REM sleep. Each stage affects heart rhythm differently.
During REM sleep, heart rate and blood pressure can fluctuate sharply. Dreams kick in. Stress hormones spike briefly. In vulnerable hearts, these swings can destabilize electrical activity.
At the same time, lying flat can worsen breathing problems in people with airway obstruction. Oxygen levels fall quietly.
Doctors say the heart becomes more electrically sensitive at night, which explains why fatal arrhythmias often strike during sleep rather than daytime activity.
It feels counterintuitive. But rest is not always safe for a compromised heart.
Sudden cardiac arrest vs heart attack
Many people still confuse the two.
They are not the same.
A heart attack happens when blood flow to the heart muscle is blocked, usually causing chest pain and warning signs. Sudden cardiac arrest is an electrical failure. The heart abruptly stops pumping.
Cardiac arrest can occur without blocked arteries. It can happen even if heart scans looked “normal” months earlier.
That is what makes it terrifying.
Doctors stress that cardiac arrest survival depends on immediate intervention. During sleep, help arrives too late.
A growing public health concern doctors can’t ignore
Medical professionals are increasingly alarmed by how often these cases appear in emergency rooms.
Healthy-looking individuals. No prior diagnosis. Death pronounced on arrival.
In many cases, families later discover long-standing issues that were never tested. Elevated cholesterol. Abnormal ECGs that were never done. Sleep apnea never investigated.
The tragedy, doctors say, is that some of these deaths may have been preventable with early detection.
But awareness remains low.
Even now, many dismiss fatigue, snoring, or occasional palpitations as stress. Something to ignore. Something to push through.
Until they don’t wake up.
Grief, shock, and unanswered questions
For fans, Prashant Tamang’s death feels surreal.
A voice that once filled television screens. A career that had found new life on streaming platforms. Gone overnight.
For doctors, it is another painful reminder of how quietly the heart can fail.
Night-time sudden cardiac arrest is no longer rare. It is happening across age groups, professions, and fitness levels. The pattern is clear, even if the warning signs are not.
