Is it possible to die from laughter?

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Can a person actually die from laughter? Well, several deaths recorded in time past have been attributed to laughter. Strange as it might sound....it really is 'a thing' - Death by Laughter.

The list of persons who died from laughter seems alarming; as scholars, famous personalities and rulers have all fallen victim to the “laughter plague”.

Despite the fact that laughter is considered a very healthy remedy, there have been documented cases of death as a result of laughter, which proved rather shocking.

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Accounts of death by laughter

Medical doctors have attributed some of these deaths from laughter to heart attack or asphyxiation, due to a hard laugh by a victim. Popular names linked to death by laughter include; Chrysippus, the Greek Philosopher and Scottish writer Thomas Urquhart.

• Alex Mitchell – An Englishman who had a pre-existing and irregular heart condition called Long QT syndrome, but died laughing in 1975. His heart condition coupled with the effects of a 25-minute laughing fit, led to his death. The QT syndrome depicts an overexcitement or over exertion of the heart, which causes it to experience unusually long pauses in between heart beats.

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_{Source: King Martin of Aragon}

Heart conditions haven’t always been the only cause of death due to laughter though. An example of other contributory conditions is the case of King Martin of Aragon, who was said to have had indigestion and yet laughed for several hours after hearing a hilarious joke from a his court jester, and eventually died in 1410. The account is still widely disputed though.

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_{Source: Thomas Urquhart}

• Thomas Urquhart – A Scottish writer and mathematician died from laughter after hearing that Charles II had taken over the throne in England, Ireland and Scotland in 1660.

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_{Source: Chrysippus}

• Chrysippus – Greek philosopher is said to have died after watching a donkey eat his figs, in the third B.C. Chrysippus had asked his servant to give wine to the donkey to wash down the figs when he started laughing himself to death. Other accounts say Chrysippus died either from alcohol poisoning or seizure.

• Zeuxis – Greek painter, way back in the early fifth century B.C is said to be the first recorded account of death by laughter. The account says Zeuxis suffered history’s first death after viewing an ugly Aphrodite he was commissioned to paint by an unattractive woman who wanted herself to be used as the model. After painting and seeing his work, Zeuxis fell over and died of laughter

There was no definite way to tell if a pre-existing medical condition contributed to Zeuxis death or if it was entirely due to laughter.

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The most recent account is a repeated story of Ole Bentzen, a Danish man who died laughing while watching a movie called “A Fish Called Wanda”.

Despite the popular belief that these deaths must have been due to laughter, opinions still suggest that they may indeed have been as a result of medical conditions which were undiscovered, at the time, by doctors. However, until it can be proven that laughter wasn’t synonymous with those deaths, it would be safe to think cautiously before you go on your bout of laughter.

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Reference:

• Death from laughter
• Turns die from laughing hard
• People who literally died from laughter
• Can a person die from laughter
• Laughing
• Can you die of laughter

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