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A side - splitting antic might spur , between tears and gasp for air , the age - old exclamation : " I ’m dying of laughter ! " Although the expression is an obvious overstatement , is there any truth behind it ? Can people actually go bad of laughter ?
Although it ’s highly unlikely , it ’s technically possible — and there have beendocumented casesof laugh - refer deaths in the past , doctors told Live Science .
Exaggerated laughter can make people pass out in very rare cases.
There are a few ways laugh could trigger a negative impression on the body . One of the most vulnerable of these pathways is via the heart . In rare display case , an especially substantial chuckle can do something called " laugh - induced deliquium , " a precondition that causes a person ’s blood pressure to send away rapidly during an overstated laugh . This triggers a heightened reply from the autonomicnervous system — the connection of nerves that mold involuntary physiologic processes — leading to a irregular plunge in the amount of blood that flows to the brain , which can result in a passing of consciousness .
" When you laugh , you ’re moving your chest up and down , and it switch the pressure in the thoracic dental caries [ chest ] and it can affect what ’s called thevagus nerve , " which carries signals between the brain and most of the internal pipe organ , Dr. Todd Cohen , chief of cardiology and director of medical equipment innovation at the New York Institute of Technology , told Live Science . " It can cause you to become lightheaded , [ or ] even — very , very , very rarely — pass out , specially when it ’s very exaggerated . "
concern : Why do you get lightheaded if you suffer up too tight ?
Exaggerated laughter can make people pass out in very rare cases.
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Laughter can help reduce anxiety.
Thefirst documented caseof laughter - cause deliquium was in 1997 , when a 62 - yr - erstwhile patient with high blood pressure and other center - touch on issues fainted multiple times while roaring with laugh at the television show " Seinfeld , " leading to the condition ’s nickname " the Seinfeld faint . "
The patient did not die from the condition , and this type of syncope usually just causes a soul to snuff it out for less than a few second before coming to , Cohen said . Although it is technically potential for laugh - induce syncope to get the heart to stop , the giving jeopardy from these fainting magical spell is that they could happen in dangerous situations , he lend .
" It is possible that somebody can have this condition [ and ] fall and hit their head , or settle down a flying of stairs , or fall off the subway end into a train and die , " he said , stressing that it ’s fantastically improbable .
In other case , laughter can sham the amount of air that gets to the heart , lungs and brain . For representative , high emotion , such as rich amusement , can increase respiration rate andtrigger flares of asthma symptom , which can be further exacerbate by the strange respiration associated with laughter . In a2009 study , investigator surveyed 105 patients with asthma attack and found that more than 40 % experienced laugh - induced asthma . In dangerous cases , asthma attacks can be fatal if someone does not have access to their inhaler .
In hypothesis , laughter could also trigger a sudden muscle spasm of the outspoken cords — a condition known as a laryngospasm — or suffocation if a person does not get enough oxygen between laughs . But chances of these causes of death are slim , agree toDr . Megan Kamath , a cardiologist at UCLA Health and an assistant clinical prof of medicament at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA .
" While there have been report cases of expiry from laughter due to suffocation or cardiac arrest , it remains an overall unlikely cause of demise for healthy somebody , " she told Live Science in an email .
In fact , laugh is harmless — or even beneficial — to your wellness in the immense majority of post , Cohen enunciate .
" I call back laugh and humor can help [ patient ] going forward with their precondition and put a dissimilar perspective on their medical job and keep them more present in the import and enjoying life , " he said .
Studiesshowthat laughter can abridge anxiousness by significantly lowering a person ’s level of the stress hormone cortisol while increasing the release of dopamine , the nous ’s " feel - good " chemical substance . to boot , laughing could help oneself increase oxygen flow throughout the body and abbreviate rubor in patients with coronary artery disease , according to anot - yet - compeer - critique studypresented at the European Society of Cardiology in Amsterdam in August .
" I believe laugh is the good medicine , and it ’s very improbable to kill someone — but it ’s theoretically potential , " Cohen said .
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