Do people really die laughing?The doctor said so | Fainting | Breathing | Laughing

[The Epoch Times, November 28, 2023](Epoch Times reporter Chen Juncun reported) People will laugh out loud when they encounter funny things, and often say: “I almost died laughing!” This description seems very good. Exaggeration, but in reality, what’s the truth behind this hyperbole? Do people really die laughing?

According to the Live Science website, some doctors said that although it is unlikely that people will laugh to death in real life, it is theoretically possible and laughter-related deaths have occurred in the past.

Laughter can have negative effects on the body in several ways. One of the most dangerous pathways is through the heart. In extremely rare cases, laughing heartily can cause a form of laughter-induced syncope, which causes a sudden drop in blood pressure, prompting an intensified response from the autonomic nervous system, which in turn reduces blood flow to the brain and ultimately kills the person. lose consciousness.

Todd Cohen, a cardiologist and electrophysiologist at the New York Institute of Technology, told the website that when you laugh, your chest moves up and down, causing the pressure in your chest to change. , and affects the vagus nerve. This nerve carries signals from the brain to various organs, including the heart.

The vagus nerve, when stimulated, can make you feel light-headed or, in very rare cases, pass out, especially if you smile exaggeratedly.

“I believe laughter is the best medicine,” he said. “It’s unlikely to kill, but it’s theoretically possible.”

The first documented case of laughter-induced syncope occurred in 1997. In the United States, a 62-year-old patient with high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease fell into a coma several times because of laughter while watching the TV comedy show “Seinfeld.”

Cohen said the patient did not die as a result. This type of syncope usually causes a person to pass out several times and then wake up. Although this type of syncope could technically cause the heart to stop beating, the greater risk is that it occurs in dangerous circumstances.

For example, he said, people with this symptom may hit their head while passing out, fall down the stairs, or fall onto the subway tracks and be hit by a train.

In other cases, laughter affects the amount of air entering the heart, lungs and brain. For example, laughing can increase your breathing rate and cause asthma symptoms, and unusual breathing patterns while laughing can worsen these symptoms.

In a study published in 2009, researchers surveyed 105 asthma patients. It was found that more than 40% of patients had asthma caused by laughing. In severe cases, asthma attacks can be fatal if the patient does not have an inhaler on hand.

Megan Kamath, a cardiologist and clinical assistant professor at the School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, said laughing could theoretically cause a sudden spasm of the vocal cords, a condition called laryngospasm. (laryngospasm). If you don’t inhale enough oxygen when you laugh, you will suffocate. But the chances of dying laughing like this are very low.

Kamat said that while some people have died from harmless choking or heart attacks while laughing, laughing to death is still an unlikely cause of death in healthy people.

In fact, Cohen said, in most cases, laughter is not harmful to people’s health and can even be beneficial.

He believes that laughter and humor can help patients combat their symptoms and view their health problems from a different perspective, allowing them to live in the present and enjoy life more.

Previous research has shown that laughter can reduce people’s anxiety by significantly lowering cortisol (known as the “stress hormone”) and increasing the secretion of dopamine (the feel-good chemical). In addition, laughter increases the amount of oxygen flowing through the body and reduces inflammation in patients with coronary heart disease.

Editor in charge: Jasmine