Students (Photo : Reuters/Jonathan Alcorn)
A new study carried out by Washington State University has found that nearly one in five young people suffers from exploding head syndrome.
According to ScienceDaily, scientists said that young people with exploding head syndrome are startled awake by abrupt loud noises that happen in their head.
In the study, psychologists and graduate students who were trained in identifying the symptoms of isolated sleep paralysis and exploding head syndrome interviewed 211 undergraduate students. They found that 18 percent of college students had experienced this strange medical condition at least once. Some students revealed that the condition had a considerable impact on their lives.
It was also found that more than one-third of students who experienced exploding head syndrome have also suffered from isolated sleep paralysis, a disorder in which a person cannot speak or move upon waking up.
Brian Sharpless, the main author of the study, said that the syndrome tends to happen when an individual is falling asleep. Scientists think that the condition is triggered when the brain experiences difficulty in shutting down.
Sharpless further said that when the brain goes to sleep, its visual, auditory and motor neurons shut down in stages. However, instead of shutting down in a proper way, the auditory neurons are believed to fire all at once. This is why people experience loud and scary noises that they cannot describe. However, these loud noises are not real noises in their environment.
While exploding head syndrome typically lasts only a few seconds, it can be very frightening and can cause people to believe that they are having a stroke or a seizure. Some people keep mum about their condition and do not discuss it with their spouse.
According to Sharpless, getting a diagnosis and knowing that a major chunk of people has experienced the same thing can help some people.
People should visit a sleep specialist if exploding head causes them anxiety or frequently disrupts their sleep, American Academy of Sleep Medicine reported. They should also inform the specialist of any present or past medication use.
