This chemical is toxic in large amounts; it damages the visceral internal organs such as the heart , lungs, liver and kidneys. It is believed that almost all sudden deaths are caused by damage to the heart. There is almost no other organ that would fail so fast as to cause sudden death.
Kidney failure, liver failure, those things don't kill you suddenly. What exactly happens in the heart when it's flooded with too much adrenaline? Adrenaline from the nervous system lands on receptors of cardiac myocytes heart-muscle cells , and this causes calcium channels in the membranes of those cells to open.
Calcium ions rush into the heart cells and this causes the heart muscle to contract. If it's a massive overwhelming storm of adrenaline, calcium keeps pouring into the cells and the muscle just can't relax. There is this specially adapted system of muscle and nerve tissue in the heart—the sinoatrial SA node, the atrioventricular node, and the Purkinje fibers—which sets the rhythm of the heart. If this system is overwhelmed with adrenaline, the heart can go into abnormal rhythms that are not compatible with life.
If one of those is triggered, you will drop dead. What is an example of one of these deadly heart rhythms? In most cases, it's probably ventricular fibrillation that causes these sudden deaths from fear. Ventricular fibrillation basically causes the ventricles lower chambers of the heart to vibrate in a way that hampers their ability to deliver blood to the body.
What other emotional states besides fear could lead to these fatal heart rhythms? Any strong positive or negative emotions such as happiness or sadness. There are people who have died in intercourse or in religious passion. There was a case of a golfer who hit a hole in one, turned to his partner and said, "I can die now"—and then he dropped dead. He said the more dangerous adrenaline surges come from the body's response to a life-threatening situation or the stress of discovering the deceased body of a loved one.
If it happens, it happens, and you hope your body doesn't overreact to that event. People can typically get an adrenaline rush from skydiving or bungee jumping — even while watching a horror flick from the couch.
More dangerous adrenaline surges come from life-or-death moments such as getting out of the way of an oncoming car or fleeing a tornado. People are able to prepare themselves when they go to a haunted house or get on an amusement park ride, so their risk isn't the same as when they find themselves in life-threatening danger. A possibly dangerous result of sudden stress may come from takotsubo cardiomyopathy, a weakening of the heart's main pumping chamber that is typically caused by emotional or physical stress.
The temporary condition affects women significantly more than men. Also known as broken-heart syndrome, takotsubo cardiomyopathy is different from a heart attack in that arteries are not blocked but blood flow is negatively affected nonetheless. The precipitating events are diverse. Women have generally shown a greater tendency to fear death versus men.
This is possibly due to the fact that women are more likely to admit to and discuss such fears. The fact that, historically, men are more likely to believe in dying for a cause or purpose may also contribute to this.
Some researchers will argue that young people fear death more than the elderly. However, one study conducted among dying people in Taiwan showed that the fear of death actually did not decrease with increased age.
Additionally, the same study showed that a patient's fear of death decreased after they were admitted to hospice care. It's possible that this was a result of the education and holistic emotional and spiritual support patients receive from members of the hospice team.
It is possible to break down our general fear of death into several specific types of fears. Many people fear that when they meet death, they will experience excruciating pain and suffering. This fear is common in many healthy people, as well as in patients dying of cancer or other terminal illnesses. Unfortunately, many people do not realize that palliative care can help alleviate pain and other distressing symptoms.
Death remains the ultimate unknown because no one in human history has survived it to tell us what really happens after we take our last breath. It is human nature to want to understand and make sense of the world around us. The reality is that death can never be fully understood by anyone who is living.
Many people fear the idea that they will completely cease to exist after death occurs. We might typically associate this fear with atheists or others without personal spiritual or religious beliefs. The truth is that many people of faith also worry that their belief in an afterlife isn't real after all, or that they did not earn eternal life while alive.
Similar to the fear of non-existence, this belief does not apply only to devout believers of religious or spiritual faith. Many people — regardless of their religious persuasion or lack of spiritual beliefs — fear that they will be punished for what they did, or did not do, while here on earth.
Human nature generally seeks to control the situations we encounter, but death remains something over which we have absolutely no control. This frightens many people. Some may attempt to exert some form of control over death by behaving in an extremely careful manner to avoid risks or undergoing rigorous, frequent health checks. Another very common death fear focuses on the worry of what will happen to those entrusted to our care if we die.
Parents, for example, might worry about a newborn or child. Family members providing home care-giving to a loved one might fear that no one else can handle their patient's many needs and demands. Someone in the prime of their life might feel afraid at the thought of leaving a spouse or partner alone due to death.
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