Can you die of fright

Holly Anderson when it happened. Women, particularly older women, are far more susceptible to dying of fright, also known as the "broken heart syndrome. He said postmenopausal women are at risk mainly because they no longer enjoy the known cardio-protective benefits of estrogen, he said.

Experts estimate that about 1 percent of men and 7 percent of women with suspected heart attacks have stress cardiomyopathy instead. And it is more common than thought. Samuels said the average sudden death in any major city is about one per day. Studies show this number goes up slightly for about a week after a catastrophic event such as an earthquake or a terrorist attack and may increase on days that have a negative cultural significance, such as Friday the 13th.

This type of abrupt cardiac event goes by several names. Technically it's referred to by medical experts as stress cardiomyopathy because it usually occurs immediately following an intense emotional event. When the syndrome was first identified by Japanese scientists in , they dubbed it " takotsubo syndrome ," after the strange balloon shape resembling a Japanese octopus trap the heart takes on when it occurs.

Here in the U. Samuels has studied and treated stress cardiomyopathy syndrome. He said that it's likely set into motion by an excessive, uncontrolled activation of the sympathetic nervous system, the part of the brain responsible for the control of the body's "flight or fight" response including increasing heart-rate, respiration, perspiration.

A terrifying event, be it a gun held to someone's head or a chilling Halloween trick, can trigger this disorganized heart movement, turning a scary situation into a deadly one, he said. Fear isn't the only trigger: Any type of extreme emotion can trigger the reaction. High levels of adrenaline can lead to death during sexual intercourse, religious fervor or sporting events, Glatter said. The fight-or-flight response can also be triggered by loud sounds, such as sonic booms, or horrible smells, including entering the house of a compulsive hoarder.

And he was a young guy with no previous medical history. What's more, "scaremongers" can be held legally accountable if they scare people to death. The man's family alleged that the tractor-trailer didn't have visible backlights, and that the man was literally "scared to death" when he suddenly saw the large vehicle during a rainstorm in , the AP reported.

The man hit the tractor-trailer moments later, possibly because of his heart condition, the AP said. Although this hormonal release is meant to help manage stress in moments of danger, sometimes it can also be the thing that ushers in a series of physical responses that kills you instead. Sometimes when the fight-or-flight response goes into overdrive it causes the heart to beat uncontrollably, which can be fatal.

Take, for example, the death of Danielle Goldberg - a year-old woman who got trapped in an elevator. As her stress escalated in the enclosed space, her heart began to beat rapidly and wildly. She died in the hospital from cardiac arrest shortly after being rescued.

When the body is trying to deal with a terrifying situation, it releases different chemicals. One of those is adrenaline. But if the body releases too much adrenaline, it can prove deadly. High levels can damage an otherwise healthy heart, and they can completely stop a less healthy one. As a result, some people who die of fright do so after this adrenaline release throws them into cardiac arrest causing them to die of a heart attack.

Calcium works hand-in-hand with adrenaline in the heart during fight or flight. Adrenaline release actually triggers calcium channels in the heart to open up. Like too much adrenaline to the heart, too much calcium can cause the heart to malfunction and cause cardiac arrest in a really scared person.

When you become so scared that your body releases a bunch of adrenaline, your heart begins to quiver instead of beat and blood stops getting circulated. This quiver, also called ventricular fibrillation , can be caused by the adrenaline and calcium released into the heart.

The Japanese have an expression to describe the strange shape that your heart can take when you die of fright. In response to the adrenaline and calcification happening inside the heart during an extremely scary situation, the heart will balloon in some places and contract in others. This causes the heart to look somewhat like an octopus trap - or takotsubo. The next thing that happens to you is pretty obvious — your blood pressure plummets.