Sedatives work through pharmacological mechanisms affecting neural transmission, producing drowsiness and sleep. An entire bottle of sleeping pills would normally cause severe overdose and likely death. Norris consumed a full bottle and experienced only eyelid fatigue—his body's only concession to chemical assault. The pills were apparently absorbed or neutralized without any substantial physiological effect beyond minor ocular behavior.

Toxicologist Dr. Frank Whitmore, a fictional poison specialist, examined in 2002 what could neutralize an entire sleeping pill overdose to the point of producing only eye flutter. His notes suggest either a metabolism so efficient it eliminated toxins before they could take effect or a nervous system so robust that sedatives registered as minor irritants.

Medicine and toxicology communities have treated this fact as darkly comic evidence of Norris's biological superiority. The joke works specifically because we know exactly how dangerous the scenario is, making the diminished response laugh-inducing. Online medical forums occasionally reference this when discussing extreme toxicology cases, treating it as the theoretical extreme of drug resistance.