Boo!
Kidding.
Not a monster.
Hope I didn’t scare you too badly.
Today we’re exploring fright.
Overwhelming, immediate fear.
A sensation so disturbing that maybe, for
just a second, you feel like you’re dying.
And that’s today’s question: Could you
literally die of fright?
The answer, unfortunately, is “yes.”
First, let’s look at what happens when something
scares you.
Let’s say you’re sneaking through an abandoned
amusement park late at night, like you do.
Suddenly, a stained, white-gloved hand clamps
down on your shoulder.
In a split-second, you freak out!
More specifically, your body activates what’s
known as the "fight-or-flight" response.
It all starts with your thalamus, a structure
of two walnut-sized bulbs that relay sensations
to your cerebral cortex.
At this point, your thalamus doesn't know
if the sensory info it’s just received – the
gloved hand -- is a real sign of danger.
But since it might be, your hypothalamus steps
in and activates two systems: the sympathetic
nervous system and the adrenal-cortical system.
The first uses nerve pathways to initiate
reactions, and the second uses the bloodstream.
Then it hits you: Your pupils dilate.
You feel a surge of strength and your heartrate
skyrockets.
But let’s say this story has a happy ending.
Let’s say one of your friends just snuck
up on you (and happens to have what looks
like a dead hand), because they have a terrible
sense of humor.
You realize you are not, in fact, a clown’s
next victim, so you calm down.
You’ve learned a valuable lesson about trespassing
(and friendship).
However, these bursts of fright can occasionally
be more damaging than the perceived threat
itself.
Some doctors believe that if the fear is great
enough, the jolt of chemicals rushing to your
heart can cause immediate death, especially
if your ticker wasn’t top-notch to begin
with.
In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s "The Hound of
the Baskervilles,” Sherlock Holmes investigates
the case of a man who had a heart attack,
seemingly caused by the fear of a ghostly
dog.
The man, Charles Baskerville, was susceptible
to this stress because of a heart condition.
Over the years scientists have studied this
so-called “Baskerville effect.”
They’ve found that cultural fears can increase
this likelihood of sudden death.
Another related concept comes from Harvard
psychologist Walter Cannon, who published
a 1942 paper attributing sudden death – which
he called “voodoo death” - to an overactive
nervous system.
He believed this nervous condition was more
common in cultures where forms of harmful
magic were practiced.
Otherwise healthy people, convinced they were
cursed, experienced a fight or flight response
that never ended.
Instead, the prolonged influx of adrenaline
acted on the heart almost like a large amount
of cocaine -- it shut the organ down.
Then researchers at Johns Hopkins added another
twist to the plot when they argued that experiencing
stressful emotions could cause something that
looks like a heart attack or heart failure
even when there were no clogged arteries or
blood clots present.
This work has a disturbing implication: death
could happen in the wake of any shocking emotion,
from intense joy to deep anger.
Hypothetically, that means we're all at risk
of “death-by-fright.”
But hey, our species actively pursues thrills
and chills on a daily basis, from scary movies
to rush hour traffic, and few of us die from
these.
At this point, research indicates that our
chances of being scared to death are pretty
low.
And I have a question for you: what’s the
scariest thing that’s ever happened to you
(that's also appropriate to post in a YouTube
comments section)?
Let me know in the comments and, as always,
stay tuned for more BrainStuff… if you dare.
