Can you actually die of laughter?!
Question: Can you actually die of laughter.?
Answers:
It's called fatal hilarity...resulting from the physiological effects of laughter. Fatal hilarity may result from several pathologies that deviate from benign laughter. These include:
? Asphyxiation caused by the inability of the thoracic diaphragm to expand or contract fully. One of the main processes of laughter involves the continuous expansion and contraction of the thoracic diaphragm, bringing in and releasing air into and from lungs. It is possible to overexert and strain this muscle to where it becomes too weak to perform normally. Abnormal lung conditions such as asthma, bronchitis, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, or Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) may contribute to this cause of death.
? Heart failure, heart attack, and cardiac arrest brought on by cardiac arrhythmia resulting from excessive laughter. During laughter the heart rate increases above the normal ranges and may reach dangerous levels that the heart is not accustomed to, straining and damaging it. Abnormal heart conditions such as coronary heart disease, pre-existing cardiac arrhythmia, or ischaemic heart disease may contribute to this cause of death.
? Infarction of the pons and medulla oblongata in the brain may cause pathological laughter.
? Laughter can cause atonia and collapse ("gelastic syncope"),] which in turn can cause trauma. See also laughter-induced syncope, Bezold-Jarisch reflex.
? Gelastic seizures can be due to focal lesions to the hypothalamus. Depending upon the size of the lesion, the emotional lability may be a sign of an acute condition, and not itself the cause of the fatality. Gelastic syncope has also been associated with the cerebellum.
Historical deaths attributed to fatal hilarity:
? Chrysippus reportedly died of laughter.In the third century B.C. the Greek stoic philosopher Chrysippus died of laughter after giving his donkey wine, then seeing it attempt to feed on figs.
? Martin I of Aragon died from a lethal combination of indigestion and uncontrollable laughing in 1410.
? Pietro Aretino "is said to have died of suffocation from laughing too much
? Asphyxiation caused by the inability of the thoracic diaphragm to expand or contract fully. One of the main processes of laughter involves the continuous expansion and contraction of the thoracic diaphragm, bringing in and releasing air into and from lungs. It is possible to overexert and strain this muscle to where it becomes too weak to perform normally. Abnormal lung conditions such as asthma, bronchitis, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, or Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) may contribute to this cause of death.
? Heart failure, heart attack, and cardiac arrest brought on by cardiac arrhythmia resulting from excessive laughter. During laughter the heart rate increases above the normal ranges and may reach dangerous levels that the heart is not accustomed to, straining and damaging it. Abnormal heart conditions such as coronary heart disease, pre-existing cardiac arrhythmia, or ischaemic heart disease may contribute to this cause of death.
? Infarction of the pons and medulla oblongata in the brain may cause pathological laughter.
? Laughter can cause atonia and collapse ("gelastic syncope"),] which in turn can cause trauma. See also laughter-induced syncope, Bezold-Jarisch reflex.
? Gelastic seizures can be due to focal lesions to the hypothalamus. Depending upon the size of the lesion, the emotional lability may be a sign of an acute condition, and not itself the cause of the fatality. Gelastic syncope has also been associated with the cerebellum.
Historical deaths attributed to fatal hilarity:
? Chrysippus reportedly died of laughter.In the third century B.C. the Greek stoic philosopher Chrysippus died of laughter after giving his donkey wine, then seeing it attempt to feed on figs.
? Martin I of Aragon died from a lethal combination of indigestion and uncontrollable laughing in 1410.
? Pietro Aretino "is said to have died of suffocation from laughing too much
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