Posted on 06/09/2005 5:28:54 PM PDT by neverdem
Pollen, dust mites and pet allergens, sure. But laughter?
Yes, says a new study that suggests that laughing should be added to the list of things that can set off an asthma attack. The research was presented at a recent conference of the American Thoracic Society.
The author of the study, Dr. Stuart M. Garay, said he had established the connection between laughter and asthma attacks in a survey of patients at the New York University Medical Center, where he teaches.
More than half of the 235 patients surveyed reported that laughing set off their attacks. It ranked with better known causes like grasses and was cited more often than allergies to animals and molds.
And among those patients who cited laughter as a trigger, 67 percent said even a small chuckle could be a problem, Dr. Garay said.
"It doesn't have to be a lot," he said.
The big questions are why this occurs and what can be done about it.
The answer to the first is unclear. Dr. Garay said it might have to do with the mechanism of laughter, which he described as a series of exhalations that can nearly empty the lungs.
As for what to do about it, the solution is not to avoid laughing. People who have asthma attacks after they laugh probably are not taking enough care to keep their condition in check, the study suggested. About half of those patients who linked laughter with attacks said the problem did not occur in periods when their asthma was under better control.
Asthma attacks caused by laughing were most often found in patients who also had what is known as exercise-induced asthma.
Dr. Garay said he did not believe the same process was taking place. People who had attacks after laughing reported that the...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Well, clearly we're going to have to ban humor at public schools and in other public facilities, then.
Then I'm in a heap load of trouble. I'm still laughing from reading a previous FR post "Man Reads Entire EU Constitution, Dies Of Laughter". Where's my oxygen?
Well, clearly we're going to have to ban humor at public schools and in other public facilities, then.
no can do, freespeech an all
Hmm, apparently we've banned it here already.
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