'Exploding Head Syndrome' is actually fairly common, study finds

Maybe it's happened to you: You're lying in bed happily drifting off to sleep when suddenly you're jolted awake by a startlingly loud noise that turns out to be just in your head. The experience can be scary, and doctors have given it the alarming-sounding name "exploding head syndrome."

Now the largest study of its kind has found that this bizarre sleep disorder is much more common than previously believed. Researchers from Washington State University say nearly one in five college students -- 18 percent -- has experienced it at least once.

The study, published online in the Journal of Sleep Research, is based on interviews with 211 undergraduates who were questioned about the symptoms. Study author Brian Sharpless, a Washington State University assistant professor and director of the university psychology clinic, says he decided to look into it because the existing research just didn't add up. Exploding head syndrome was considered rare and was believed to happen mostly in middle age.

"I didn't believe the clinical lore that it would only occur in people in their 50s," Sharpless said in a press statement. "That didn't make a lot of biological sense to me." He suspected the disorder was largely overlooked and deserved to be taken more seriously.

Sharpless theorizes that the noise some people hear in their heads stems from a momentary neural hiccup as the brain transitions into sleep mode. He compares it to a computer shutting down, with the brain's motor, auditory and visual neurons turning off in stages. Once in a while, instead of shutting down properly, the auditory neurons fire all at once.

"That's why you get these crazy-loud noises that you can't explain, and they're not actual noises in your environment," he said.

For most people the condition does not cause any lasting harm, although a very small number, about 2 percent, are so startled or confused by it that they suffer what the study calls "clinically significant distress and/or impairment."

"Some people have worked these scary experiences into conspiracy theories and mistakenly believe the episodes are caused by some sort of directed-energy weapon," Sharpless 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."

eddie wrote:Wow! I thought it was just my head that was weird!!!
This happens to me quite a lot. Normally only one in the night though, not multiple times.

Interesting Ben. I've never thought of even looking it up. Just thought I was going mad

Ben_Reilly wrote:

eddie wrote:Wow! I thought it was just my head that was weird!!!
This happens to me quite a lot. Normally only one in the night though, not multiple times.

Interesting Ben. I've never thought of even looking it up. Just thought I was going mad

It's always a relief, I find, to learn that something you thought was weird is actually as we say in the U.S., "a thing."

eddie wrote:

Ben_Reilly wrote:

eddie wrote:Wow! I thought it was just my head that was weird!!!
This happens to me quite a lot. Normally only one in the night though, not multiple times.

Interesting Ben. I've never thought of even looking it up. Just thought I was going mad

It's always a relief, I find, to learn that something you thought was weird is actually as we say in the U.S., "a thing."

Unless, of course, our heads are actually in the process of, exploding.

nicko wrote:Had that for some years, frightened the life out of me first time it happened.My doc said it's something to do with the electrical connections in the brain "firing off".

Ben_Reilly wrote:

eddie wrote:

Unless, of course, our heads are actually in the process of, exploding.

It can feel that way though, I've found it very distressing when it happens. It was quite a relief to learn that it's nothing wrong with you -- that helps me relax

Nems wrote:

Ben_Reilly wrote:

It can feel that way though, I've found it very distressing when it happens. It was quite a relief to learn that it's nothing wrong with you -- that helps me relax

We have spoken about this before Ben I was very relieved when you told me you experienced too. I was really frightened when it happened, I thought one of the windows had come in and couldn't understand why the dog was still snoring

Cass wrote:

Nems wrote:

We have spoken about this before Ben I was very relieved when you told me you experienced too. I was really frightened when it happened, I thought one of the windows had come in and couldn't understand why the dog was still snoring

it still freaks me out....it happens for no rhyme or reason....no schedule....can go months without one then boom! cant even remember when it first started....