Spotted on phys.org is the story that 'exploding head syndrome' — a psychological condition in which sufferers are woken by sudden loud noises, or the sensation of an explosion inside their head, is more common in the young than previously thought.
Brian Sharpless, a Washington State University assistant professor and director of the university psychology clinic, found that nearly one in five—18 percent—of college students interviewed said they had experienced it at least once.
...
Some people are so put off by the experience that they don't even tell their spouse, he said."They may think they're going crazy and they don't know that a good chunk of the population has had the exact same thing," he said.
...
"But many people are at least relieved to get a diagnosis and learn that they aren't alone. "There's the possibility that just being able to recognize it and not be afraid of it can make it better," Sharpless said.
Medical Xpress has additional background on the condition.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 30 2015, @08:41PM
This sounds like something right out of Monty Python!
(Score: 4, Funny) by bob_super on Monday March 30 2015, @09:44PM
After observing that a lot of their recruits experience it once, Al Qaeda and ISIS beg to differ.
(Score: 2) by Hartree on Monday March 30 2015, @08:50PM
(A little gory, so viewer discretion advised ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjnZO5ZgWE8 [youtube.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by draconx on Monday March 30 2015, @08:52PM
From the summary:
Why would people be relieved to learn that others are suffering? Isn't that a bad thing?
I suppose more suffering overall implies that rich white people are more likely affected [theonion.com], which may result in increased research funding towards a treatment? I guess that's good in a way...
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday March 30 2015, @09:41PM
My guess is they're very pleased to learn its not early stage vamprism or zombie infection or not otherwise a terminal illness.
I learned I have a new medical condition today, linked from that page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnic_jerk [wikipedia.org]
I've had like one a year while sleeping since I was a kid and its no big deal always after extreme exercise so I never thought much of it, but I could imagine someone getting their first at age 70 thinking its a heart attack or stroke or something horrible, although apparently it is a meaningless medical mystery that doesn't matter if it doesn't bother you. Compared to the leg cramps I sometimes get after similar extreme exercise its paradise to merely get painlessly snapped awake.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 30 2015, @09:54PM
Hypnic jerk
Oh I freeking HATE that. Dozing off and the ye ol body decides LETS FLAIL EVERYTHING. Have not had a good one in a few months.
As to why people like to hear that they are not alone is just that. They feel like they are the 'weird one' 'no one understands them'. To hear there are others means 'you are not weird'...
(Score: 2) by Marand on Monday March 30 2015, @10:35PM
Hypnic jerk
Oh I freeking HATE that. Dozing off and the ye ol body decides LETS FLAIL EVERYTHING. Have not had a good one in a few months.
I hate it too, though I've never had my body decide to flail everything. Usually it's just a single, abrupt twitch of the arm (very rarely a leg) that wakes me up. Doesn't happen often, but when it does it's really hard to fall back asleep.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday March 31 2015, @11:25AM
To hear there are others means 'you are not weird'...
Like I wrote, I'm infinitely more happy to hear its "definitely not a brain tumor" and medically harmless than to meet the couple Soylentils who also occasionally have an arm or leg kick in their sleep for no reason.
I can see the point of medicating and treating the heck out of it if it happens enough to interfere with life, although the stereotypical pharmaceutical insert warnings make it too scary to treat something that happens about once a year and doesn't impact my life other than idle curiosity.
(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Monday March 30 2015, @10:00PM
I remember hearing (probably a theory) about that being caused by a bad hand-off between your conscious and sub-conscious, much like the nerve signals are a little out of phase during the change in some cases. I have no idea if there's any credibility to it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 30 2015, @10:01PM
How about the ones where you dream you are falling, and actually bounce off the bed when you dream you hit the ground. I watched my young daughter bounce off the floor as she woke up. I asked her, you were dreaming that you were falling huh? yep.
(Score: 2) by sudo rm -rf on Tuesday March 31 2015, @11:36AM
I used to have this at least once a week when I was a child. Usually there were two outcomes, either I started dreaming that I could fly or I bounced off the bed as you described. You know, the trick is "to miss the ground".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 30 2015, @10:09PM
I learned I have a new medical condition today, linked from that page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnic_jerk [wikipedia.org]
i actually had this as the result of a medication which turned out to be having a capacitive charging effect like epilepsy. an anti-epileptic medication could probably help you.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Monday March 30 2015, @10:01PM
Which of these would you prefer to hear from your doctor:
Something' odd is going on in your brain. Nobody's ever heard of it before and we have no idea what the prognosis might be. Let's flip through "The Big Book of Strange and Unpronounceable Prescriptions"...
This is a fairly common thing. Though being awakened can be annoying, it won't lead to anything worse than that.
(Score: 2) by Gravis on Monday March 30 2015, @10:01PM
Why would people be relieved to learn that others are suffering? Isn't that a bad thing?
because many people are afraid of becoming abnormal because of what it could mean for their future. think of it this way, if nobody ever got headaches and you suddenly got one, you would be terrified. you would wonder what was wrong with yourself and maybe if one day you would always feel that way. now if you got a headache, didn't know what it was and someone told you many people got headache on occasion, you would feel relieved. does that mean you are glad everyone suffers from headaches? of course it does! idiot.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Tuesday March 31 2015, @06:27PM
Had you omitted the last word, this would have been a really good post.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Tuesday March 31 2015, @04:24AM
Why would people be relieved to learn that others are suffering? Isn't that a bad thing?
Apparently "bad thing" is actually harmless, and once you realize you are not crazy or insane, but merely well within the range of normal human experience, you can simply laugh it off and go back to sleep.
Rarely, say every 6 months or so, I get what I can best describe as 1 second 240 volts AC zap my entire nervous system, accompanied with a large buzzing sound, and a jerk from head to toe, while falling asleep. Been this way forever, and it use to worry me as a small child, till my dad told me he would occasionally get them too, as well as did my sister. So being comfortably crazy, in a family of crazy, I've never worried about these events.
The only time I distinctly remember it happening when NOT falling asleep, was in 8th grade gym class once when we were instructed to do pull ups. As I recall, I was half way through my requirement, and BZZZZZT, thanks for playing. Plop, flat on my back on the mat. Huge laughter all around.
If they commonly occurred any time other than lying in bed falling asleep I might be alarmed. As it is, I find it relaxing and usually sleep soundly afterward.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Tuesday March 31 2015, @02:00PM
The sad part? The Onion ain't wrong. Read "The Band Played On" or watch the well done HBO movie based on the book to see how AIDS could have been shut down in the USA as they had tracked down patient zero and could have kept it from spreading like wildfire but the Reagan administration had not a single fuck to give...until a member of the Heinz family got it from a blood transfusion. As long as it was a "gay and junkie disease"? Not only did they not care but sadly many on the ultra right cheered, like a disease gives a crap about sexual orientation or lifestyle and will say "What you aren't gay or a junkie? My bad" and move on.
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2015, @11:31PM
Well time to be the politically incorrect one...
As much as people don't like to talk about it, in the west AIDS remain primarily a gay mans disease.
"Although MSM represent about 4% of the male population in the United States4, in 2010, MSM accounted for 78% of new HIV infections among males and 63% of all new infections2. MSM accounted for 54% of all people living with HIV infection in 2011, the most recent year these data are available1."
Is it Fox news printing this stuff? Nope, the Center for Disease Control.
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/statistics/basics/ataglance.html [cdc.gov]
They are simply repeating what has been known for decades; Gay sex is extremely unhealthy for the human body and provides an easy avenue for the transmission of diseases. Look up the stats for rate of STD infections between homosexual and heterosexual individuals, much higher rate of infection among the homosexuals. This is compounded by the fact that homosexuals tend to be very promiscuous, same reason AIDS is such a problem in otherwise heterosexual African countries.
Of course the gay lobby doesn't want to deal with this, nor with the male-on-male rape problem in the military since the repeal of DADT, because it means having to do actual work. Actually caring about homosexuals doesn't get them money. Not exactly unique to them of course, same thing happens to special interest groups in general, Greenpeace, MADD, NAACP, etc.
(Score: 2) by Marand on Monday March 30 2015, @08:55PM
Looks like I learned something new today; Exploding Head Syndrome [wikipedia.org] is definitely not what I thought it would be.
Obligatory Scanners clip. [youtube.com]
(Score: 1) by Megahard on Monday March 30 2015, @09:19PM
Yes, I was thinking of this [youtube.com] (Robot Chicken)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 30 2015, @09:23PM
Glad I'm not the only one.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday March 30 2015, @09:30PM
So its a re occurring bad dream or nightmare? Or it isn't, in a way thats poorly explained or glossed over that I can't figure out?
Its interesting that I've slept thru fireworks and gunfire and when you're tired its not a problem. So its not just the thing itself, but its being freaked out while coincidentally hearing fireworks or whatever. I also find it interesting they didn't mention thunder as a hallucination. I assume its a sudden change that's the problem.
My guess is this wouldn't be getting news coverage unless an exciting new pharmaceutical only costing $6000 per month was soon to be released with the typical TV commercial of people running in a field while the announcer reads disclaimers of may cause heart attack, brain cancer, or wiener amputation in some patients and stop taking and talk to your doctor immediately if you feel the urge to eat servings of raw human flesh. But aside from that, I'm sure it'll be awesome.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 30 2015, @09:43PM
It's an experience, I doubt it has been adequately studied to come to any rational root-cause explanation.
And, while I would normally agree with a pharma-hype hypothesis, I think in this case it's just a catchy story that some survey monkey style researchers wanted to grab some attention with.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 30 2015, @09:53PM
It's like being startled awake by an explosion, except it didn't really happen. I've experienced it several times, gotten up to see what the noise was but finding nothing, and no one else heard anything. It's mentioned in the article that the same people experience sleep paralysis, that is, opening your eyes when you're asleep, AKA "the old hag syndrome" which I've also experienced. It's like waking up, opening your eyes, and not recognizing anything and not knowing who or where you are, and not being able to move. It's also described as feeling like someone is sitting on your chest. It's a very primordial state of mind. It's triggered by sleep deprivation, which in my case is chronic back pain.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by EETech1 on Tuesday March 31 2015, @02:02AM
For me it's like a fast version of the THX sound.
Feeeeeeeeeeeeuuuuuuuuuuwak.
I always figured it was like a subatomic particle caused neural bit flip somewhere in my brain. It streaks into your head, and whistles its way through until it hits something neurologically solid, like a little bolt of lightning.
Nowhere near as terrifying as being stuck asleep though. You think you're getting up, eventually trying to claw your way up with furniture, or crawl out the door and yell for help, over, and over, only to have your life rewind back, and frustratingly remind you that for some reason, you are still stuck in bed, and can't move. Once you realize you are not dead, and only in some weird half awake state, it's not so bad. Now I try to fly, and if I can, I know what's up.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 30 2015, @10:01PM
It is neither a dream/nightmare/ anything like that really. I get it occasionally, and an "event" would be a better word. It just happens, as you are drifting off to sleep - maybe a few minutes into unconsciousness, and then it will sound like a gun has been fired and you are thrown completely awake. A few minutes awake and then you drift off to sleep again and all is well. I can near reproducibly create it if I consume a couple of pieces of chocolate less than an hour before going to sleep. Personally it has never worried me on the basis that "sleep is weird", where all sorts of random things that are sleep related can happen (I have never sleepwalked, and to me that is off the scale in terms of weirdness compared to the gun explosion thing, yet sleepwalking is deemed a not hugely uncommon/crazy thing).
As for the "big pharma" conspiracy - I am afraid I would dismiss that as nonsense, but I live in the UK, where (so-far) turning healthcare into a consumer market, doesn't really stick - unlike the USA.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday March 31 2015, @11:38AM
That's pretty interesting AC. So if nightmares happen during REM sleep, and this happens immediately after falling asleep, and REM sleep type doesn't happen until later in sleep cycle, then this almost certainly isn't related to nightmares, which is pretty much the answer to my question. Also its not like a nightmare in that the weasel words I read in wikipedia were all about variation across a population but it seems like for the individuals it happens to, it happens the same each time, just for other folks its earthquakes or tidal waves every time. Unlike nightmares which at least for me don't repeat, at least not like this condition repeats... Things like wikipedia and the stuff I found googling could be improved by this kind of detail.
I'm sure someone has done a study, although again its not reported, that its not as simple as minor inner ear infection, yawn while sleeping, eardrums give that pop sound while sleeping, "omg I heard a howitzer fire nearby". And I wonder if this happens to deaf people, depending on the cause of deafness I bet that would provide a lot of insight. All not discussed in any online form I could quickly find although it may be deeply buried in a journal article.
"sleep is weird" - that seems to be about the only truly certain thing about sleep in general.
(Score: 1, Troll) by Gravis on Monday March 30 2015, @10:14PM
So its a re occurring bad dream or nightmare? Or it isn't, in a way thats poorly explained or glossed over that I can't figure out?
google it, retard.
"Exploding head syndrome is a condition that causes the sufferer to occasionally experience a tremendously loud noise as originating from within their own head, usually described as the sound of an explosion, gunshot, door slamming, roar, waves crashing against rocks, loud voices, a ringing noise, the terrific bang on a tin tray, the sound of an electrical arcing (buzzing), or a thud. In some cases an instant flash of what is perceived as video "static" is reported both audibly and visually for a fraction of a second."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 30 2015, @10:30PM
Retard is too 70s, updated term is f-tard
(Score: 4, Informative) by sjames on Monday March 30 2015, @10:30PM
I have experienced it. The first time, I assumed it was thunder. It wasn't until I went to the living room to disconnect the cable modem and my wife said "what storm?" that I had any idea it was anything else.
Unlike a dream where whatever startled you awake fades away, the sound from this reverberates exactly like you might expect from an actual loud explosion fading away.
It doesn't happen often. Even if there was a drug that cost 6 dollars and had no side effects at all, I wouldn't bother with it.
I have no idea why it would be anything to freak out about. It must be a lot worse for some people. Of course, I have also had a couple strong hypnagogic experiences and enjoyed them.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2015, @10:51AM
I didn't even remember it until I read this story, but I remember experiencing it many, many times in the past myself...
The best way I can describe it is that I remember that it sounded like a gigantic ocean wave slamming full force into a mountainside. It's a very specific splashing noise that I can still vividly remember. I also remember that I always woke up recalling an image of some kind of very complex explosion of particles in blackness.
It was terrifying. I have no idea how I forgot about it. I thought something was horribly wrong with me, but I never told anyone.
One day things just suddenly changed. Maybe it's because I take pills (clonazepam) for anxiety and to help me sleep now? I'm not sure.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Wednesday April 01 2015, @08:22PM
I wouldn't be surprised if clonazepam suppresses it for you.
I wonder if the fear is part of the effect itself rather than a reaction to it. Fortunately, I don't seem to get that part, just the sort of brief startle that accompanies any actual loud noise waking me up suddenly.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Buck Feta on Monday March 30 2015, @09:36PM
You couldn't wait two days to post this?
- fractious political commentary goes here -
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 30 2015, @09:49PM
I didn't even realise this was a thing, but it's happened to me a few times. At first, I thought that doors were slamming, and a number of times I've searched the house for intruders. Now I have dogs, and I've heard the noise a few times but the dogs haven't barked, so I really didn't understand what was happening. Now I know!
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Monday March 30 2015, @10:31PM
This has happened to me a few times as well. I would describe it like a loud distant boom, like a fireworks mortar going off. Every time it happened I have either just started to fall asleep or fell asleep a short while before. It almost knocks me out of bed when it happens. The first time it happened I thought something in my house exploded but of course it was nothing. It never worried me as I have also had weird vivid dreams my whole life. Something similar happens where just as I am falling asleep I dream that I slip while walking and my legs actually jerk as if my body is trying to catch itself. I wake up just as I kick my legs. I have also had other odd dreams. I have had a few where I am paralysed, but it turns out I was asleep and dreaming I was attempting to wake up but could barely move, speak or see. the first time it happened I was at work and sitting in a chair taking a quick nap. I dreamt that I was waking up in the same chair but I could barely see, move and I was trying to scream for help but I couldn't make any sound. Those are terrifying and pretty much torture. I also have dreams where my alarm goes off and in my dream. I hear it, loud as can be and I am in my dream trying to turn it off but can't find the source until I start loosing it smashing every electronic device in sight until I actually wake up. My theory is that they are all caused by stress. And thankfully, all of those weird dreams are rare.
I dont know if this also ties into hearing things in your dreams. One night during a particularly eventful thunderstorm I dreamt that I witnessed a plane crash a few blocks away from my front porch. In my dream I vividly remember seeing the plane come straight down and smash into the homes accompanied by an incredibly loud explosion and flash of light. It woke me so violently I almost fell out of bed and my heart was racing. Turned out it was thunder of epic proportions. There was a cacophony of car alarms outside and was the most powerful thunder clap I have ever heard. Weird how my dream somehow aligned perfectly with the lightning and thunder. To make it more weird, I woke up and actually heard the clap just as it happened. Perhaps the flash of light triggered my dream and the sound came shortly after.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday March 31 2015, @09:24AM
Do you ever have nested dreams - where you wake up, start telling someone about the dream you've just had, realise that the person you're telling - or you - are in the wrong country or something like that, and then conclude that you're still asleep and dreaming. This realisation wakes you up, and so you then go and tell someone else about that nested dream, and then realise that you or they are the wrong age, and therefore you must again still be asleep. This realisation wakes you up, and so you then go and tell someone else about the doubly-nested dream you've just had, and then you realise that you don't work with those workmates any more, and therefore you must still be asleep. This realisation wakes you up, ... I think 5 levels of nesting was my deepest (mundane innermost, then telling g/f, sister, parents, workmates sounds about right).
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday March 31 2015, @01:27PM
I dont think I have had any nested dreams. I might have but none recent enough to remember.
The paralysis dreams are certainly a nightmare. The only thing that topped that was when I dreamt I slowly died from cyanide poisoning. Weird incredibly vivid dream where I was trying to kill ants with this thick red caulk like cyanide paste. Some of it got on my hands and I didn't notice. I wiped my face getting a chunk in my mouth. I was in our old house and I ran into the bathroom trying to wash it out of my mouth but it was like glue. I couldn't spit it out as it was like peanut butter. Then I felt sick and weak. I screamed for my mother who came running in as I collapsed next to the toilet. I began to choke, unable to breath, dizzy and my vision was fading while my mother was frantically screaming trying to pull me up off the floor. It felt like this went on for a few minutes while I was gasping for air unable to move. Just as everything was about to go completely black I woke up screaming. I now know what it is like to die.
I was visiting a friend at Fort Campbell while he was on leave from Iraq. We were drinking heavily the night before, enough to be lethal save for the gooey dominos pies we each ate. Rather than stay at a hotel to visit we snuck on base and slept in the barracks as his roommates were deployed. It was around 9AM when I woke up screaming. My other friend was awake and on his laptop and was startled while my other friend who was in the army calmly said, don't worry, most of us wake up the same way from time to time. I went to the bathroom cried in the shower and the rest of he day I was in a real weird mood. I kept quiet, didn't eat much and was somewhat afraid to drink or sleep.
(Score: 2) by RedBear on Tuesday March 31 2015, @09:36AM
My wife is Filipino and has told me this is a common, widely known phenomenon in the Philippines. She has it frequently herself; a perceived inability to wake up, speak or move while seemingly being half awake and aware of one's surroundings already. When I notice her twitching or breathing strangely or making any kind of noise in her sleep I try to wake her up. Quite often she takes a big breath as if someone has been holding a pillow over her face, then (eventually) says something along the lines of, "Oh thank you, how did you know I was trying to get you to wake me up? I couldn't move and I was trying to tell you to wake me up but I couldn't speak."
They refer to this as "bangungot" (BONG-oong-OTT, sort of pronounced like the word "bergamot" where the "t" on the end is enunciated). There is even a cultural mythos in the Philippines and several Asian countries that you can die from one of these sorts of "sleep paralysis" episodes, especially if you've eaten a large meal just before sleeping. There are of course stories of supernatural creatures associated with this phenomenon, where the creature or ghost supposedly comes in the night and steals one's soul or life force. I'd like to say this is a completely baseless fairy tale to tell children, but I was disturbed to discover that it is a real documented medical phenomenon in Asian countries, where apparently healthy young people sometimes simply up and die in their sleep, often in their 20s. Witnesses often say the victims were heard moaning in their sleep at some point during the night, before they are found to be deceased in the morning. The ultimate medical cause is still unknown, AFAIK.
A close friend of my wife apparently died in his sleep in just this way in Manila shortly after she moved to the US. No wounds, no history of drug abuse, no drugs in his system. He was just found unresponsive in the morning. Supposedly there was also some popular young actor or singer over there who died the same way. Despite these anecdotes it is an extremely rare cause of death even in the Asian populations where it is relatively more common. In European history there are similar stories of sleep paralysis experiences and tales of creatures coming in the night and sitting on one's chest making it impossible to move or cry out. However there doesn't seem to be the same history of people of European descent actually dying during these episodes. I know the episodes can be quite scary, but it would probably be best to worry far more about getting struck by lightning or dying in a car crash.
Oh, and she also has the "nested dreams", like in FatPhil's post, where she thinks she's already awake but is still dreaming. I can't say that I've really experienced either of these dream phenomena, but I feel for anyone who has to go through such things frequently.
¯\_ʕ◔.◔ʔ_/¯ LOL. I dunno. I'm just a bear.
... Peace out. Got bear stuff to do. 彡ʕ⌐■.■ʔ
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday March 31 2015, @10:02AM
The human brain is a funny thing, in particular when it's sleeping. At least I get some pretty enjoyable spacey dreams, which I can deliberately control, and even bring about. Easily the most stoned I've ever been has been with no artificially-introduced chemicals in my bloodstream at all.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday March 31 2015, @01:28PM
I did not ever think to research those kinds of dreams. Thank you for that information.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 30 2015, @10:46PM
For a moment there I thought exploding head syndrome was a new term for someone that suffers from premature ejaculation.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 30 2015, @11:41PM
...usually about the time I'm supposed to wake up, like an internal alarm clock going off. Sometimes it's a phantom phone ringing, sometimes it's a phantom knock on the door, sometimes it's a phantom whispering my name.
If I have to get up early for some reason and set an alarm, it'll happen about 15 minutes before the alarm time.
(Score: 2) by VortexCortex on Tuesday March 31 2015, @04:51AM
It seems like you have a form of sleep paralysis. [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2015, @09:53AM
So it's a psychological condition? I always thought it's just my alarm clock. ;-)