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Doctor Zebra > Presidential health > Other notables > Vice-Presidents > Richard "Dick" Cheney > Asleep (2006)
	Richard Cheney: Asleep in Meeting (April 2006)

Only a few signs of sleep are visible to the eye. The most prominent is muscle atonia. That is, during normal sleep the non-respiratory skeletal muscles relax, including the eyelids.

The photograph below [1] has been annotated with this in mind. It demonstrates that every visible muscle group is relaxed. If the Vice President were merely caught in the middle of a blink, then his other muscles would still have some tone.

It was claimed that Mr. Cheney was reviewing his notes when this photograph was taken. Additional annotations address this untenable belief.

1. Sloan, Tim (photographer). "Cheney: I wasn't napping during Hu visit." ABC News (online). April 21, 2006.
       At: http://abcnews.go.com/US/popup?id=1871301