There are turns of speech, more often used not in a literal but in a figurative sense, but understandable to everyone without further explanation. Is it possible to die of laughter for real, and not describe your emotions from watching comedy? This will be discussed in the proposed article.
Phraseologisms
Speeches of independent significance and inherent in a particular language are phraseological units. One of the lexical techniques that allows you to make thought more imaginative, contributing to the speech effect, which cannot be achieved using ordinary words: beat the buckler (do nothing), overeat with bleached hair (do stupid things), nod (fall asleep). Death from laughter is a reaction to what causes a stormy, positively colored response in the form of uncontrollable laughter, bringing a person to exhaustion.
The picture immediately appears as the “dying man” grabs his sides, rolls on the floor, throwing his head back. Doctors believe laughter prolongs life by lowering stress hormones, boosting the immune system, and burning calories. But if certain physiological processes occur in the body, the question naturally arises: "Why can one die of laughter?"
Possible grave consequences
The history describes examples where people really died during an attack of laughter. Two groups of causes of tragedy are distinguished:
- The presence of chronic diseases, exacerbated during a pronounced reaction of the body to someone else's joke.
- Loss of self-control during laughter when in an unusual or dangerous situation.
The first group includes death from laughter due to:
- A sharp breath that can provoke an attack of asthma or epilepsy.
- Heart palpitations, creating a lack of oxygen in the myocardium. This can lead to a heart attack in people with heart failure.
- Strong laughter leading to rupture of an aneurysm of the artery, stroke, lung collapse in people suffering from vascular diseases.
- An attack of laughter, leading to asphyxiation or pinching of the hernia.
The second group is accidents that occurred during the occurrence of rampant laughter (falling from a height, scalding with boiling water, choking during the process of absorption of food).
Historical legends
Unfortunately, there are examples in life that give a positive answer to the question: "Is it possible to die of laughter?" The case of the ancient Greek philosopher Chrysippos, which occurred back in the 3rd century, is known. BC e. He gave wine to the donkey and watched a picture of a poor animal trying to eat figs directly from a tree. The philosopher had a fit of laughter, which caused his death.
In the 16th century, the Italian writer Pietro Aretino broke his head and laughed. On one of the bouts, he heard a funny joke that played a fateful role in his life.
The 18th century was marked by a strange story that took place at the play “The Beggar's Opera”. Actor Charles Banister played the role of a stolen buyer. His appearance caused such a strong laugh of a certain Miss Fitzherbert that she was taken out of the hall. The laughter grew into a real hysteria, which does not stop throughout the whole day. The woman has passed away. Such tragic events were infrequent, but described by historians. Is it possible to die of laughter today?
Modern real stories
The case of Briton Alex Mitchell (1975), suffering from heart failure, is described. A simple bricklayer watched the comedy show "The Kind" on TV. He squeaked, snorted, and even rolled on the floor, and one of the episodes caused a real fit of laughter for 40 minutes. Alex's heart could not stand it, but the wife later found the strength to admit that the last moments of her husband were brightened up by the play of the actors of the show, to whom she was grateful for positive emotions.
In 1988, the Danish doctor Ole Benzen died while watching the comedy “A Fish named Wanda”. He laughed so much that his pulse reached 250 or more beats. A man had a heart attack. Is it possible to die of laughter at night? In 2003, the Bangkok ice cream seller Damnoen Saen-Am laughed for two minutes in a dream, unexpectedly waking his wife. He died of suffocation.
Emotions too strong
Extreme manifestation of emotions leads to such an adrenaline rush that a weak heart cannot cope with. More often than from unbridled laughter, people die from fear and during love joys. Up to 50 thousand people die every year from sex, 90% of which are men. Lovelace aged more often ends their age in bed with their mistresses (75% of cases). The explanation for this is a huge physical exertion and overstrain. Famous people who died during sex games include American banker Nelson Rockefeller and British race car driver Robert Mortimer.
Death from fear with a certain sequence happens on dangerous rides. So, in the USA, in the room of fear with zombies, 16-year-old Faith Bandage died. All these examples answer the question of whether it is possible to die from laughter, fear or love. So I want people to die from laughter and other excessive emotions only in a figurative sense.