It’s common to hear of someone dying of a broken heart, or being scared to death, common as in just kidding or pure jest…right? Well, maybe not.
According to an article published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, there have been cases documented of people actually dying from strong emotions.
Some of the examples include Roman emperor Nerva (A.D. 30-98), who died due to a fit of anger directed at some senator who offended him; a 13th century pope (Innocent IV) was said to have died of grief when his army was overthrown, and it was also told that some American patriots died of sheer happiness after finding out that General Cornwallis’s men had been defeated (more like creamed) at Yorktown.
G. L. Engel, author of the study, also gathered 170 recent accounts of death due to life disturbing events like the death of someone close, threat of injury or death, death upon reuniting with someone long lost, grief, death by mourning or on an anniversary, happy endings…etc.
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(Concerning my last article, “Stress: American Killer,” I thought it would only make sense to post a follow-up piece detailing ways in which you can deal with America’s potential number one killer.) According to The Help Guide, really, the only way to rid yourself of the negative effects of stress is to get rid of the stress itself. You can start by identifying the sources of stress in your life and either eliminate them completely, or rethink them to reduce the stress they cause. Keep in mind that this doesn’t only include the things we don’t particularly enjoy in our lives. Stress can also be caused just as easily by things we enjoy, even positive, life-affirming events like getting married, having a baby, getting that big promotion at work, planning a best friend’s birthday party and even taking that long awaited vacation.
The last time I can remember having a truly stress-free day, I was 5 years old and my grandparents were taking me to Disney World to see Mickey Mouse for the very first time. My biggest worries of that day were deciding whether or not to cry on the dinosaur ride, if would upset my grandmother by continuing to lick one side of my chocolate ice cream cone and watching it hit the ground in a big dribbling mess and how long I could take walking in the 95-degree Florida weather before diving into the cushiony seat and shade of my covered stroller. Ah, those were the days. Over the years, stress has increasingly become a major part of my life; so much so, that sometimes it’s hard going back to that day at Disney in my mind, recalling a time when I didn’t experience it for a good 24-hour period. From making sure I’m at work on time every day to completing homework and term papers on the right due dates, to being there for friends and family when they need me and then somehow maintaining a personal life (not to mention eating, paying bills and even maintaining a regular hygiene routine), it’s become rather difficult for me to balance my stress. I know I’m not the only one feeling this way.
When the word “suicide” comes to mind, usually it isn’t followed by pictures of blue skies and a bright yellow sun nudged between two puffy white clouds. Instead, and it would only seem logical, to picture dark, hazy skies with a side of thunder and rain. Suicide only happens on insidiously dark days and nights, right? Wrong. Actually, as Swedish researchers have come to discover, suicides may be just as common, if not more so, on long summer days. It’s in places like Greenland where the sun doesn’t set in the summertime, where many people face insomnia, which can drive a person to suicide. |
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