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NYITCOM Cardiologist Interviewed

November 11, 2023

°ä²¹°ù»å¾±´Ç±ô´Ç²µ¾±²õ³ÙÌýTodd Cohen, M.D., professor, chief of cardiology, and director of medical device innovation at NYITCOM, was interviewed for the  article, “Can You Die from Laughter?â€� As Cohen discusses, in rare cases, an especially hearty chuckle can cause something called laughter-induced syncope, a condition that causes a person’s blood pressure to drop rapidly during an exaggerated laugh. This triggers a heightened response from the autonomic nervous system — the network of nerves that regulates involuntary physiological processes — leading to a temporary dip in the amount of blood that flows to the brain, which can result in a loss of consciousness.

“When you laugh, you’re moving your chest up and down, and it changes the pressure in the thoracic cavity [chest] and it can affect what’s called the vagus nerve,â€� which carries signals between the brain and most of the internal organs, Cohen told LiveScience. “It can cause you to become lightheaded, [or] even — very, very, very rarely — pass out, especially when it’s very exaggerated.â€�