If so, it could be that you’ve experienced exploding head syndrome. This is a relatively uncommon sleep disorder which belongs in the parasomnia category.
It was first documented in 1920 by the scientist Armstrong-Jones, who described it as a ‘snapping of the brain’.
It was thought for a long time to be most common in people over the age of 50, with younger generations experiencing it less often.
However, researchers at Washington State University in 2015 found that many young people also experience exploding head syndrome. In their study, 18% of the 211 undergraduates they interviewed had experienced it in their lifetime, with 16.60% on a regular basis.
The name exploding head syndrome is misleading though, as it conjures up all kinds of horror film images. Fortunately, people who experience this do wake up with their heads intact!
To understand why it has such a dramatic name, let’s take a look at the symptoms.
Exploding head syndrome symptoms
1. The main symptom is imagining you hear a very loud and sudden sound, for example:
- The sound of a bomb.
- The sound of gunshot.
- A loud clash of cymbals.
- The sound of a door slamming.
- An extremely loud rushing sound.
- People screaming or shouting.
- An electrical buzzing sound.
- Any other loud sound which can’t be described exactly.
2. People don’t usually report feeling pain with exploding head syndrome. They may describe it as painful initially, but then reveal it’s just extremely loud. They may, however, be scared or upset when it wakes them up.
3. Exploding head syndrome is sometimes accompanied by a sensation of a flashing light.
4. People may feel it affects their breathing – with a gasping of breath or difficulty breathing on waking.
5. People may experience an episode of sleep paralysis, sometimes taking the form of a reported out-of-body experience.
6. An episode can last for between just a few seconds and a few minutes. It usually occurs when falling asleep or waking up, but not during the main stages of sleep.
The researcher J M Pearce conducted a detailed study of 50 patients with exploding head syndrome in 1989 to analyze what kinds of symptoms they experienced, which you can read here for further information.
You can see from the graph below that fortunately the majority of readers don’t experience episodes of exploding head syndrome very often.
Out of 7,752 readers, 3,250 said they experience it rarely. Only 911 said they experience it nearly every day.
Causes of exploding head syndrome
The causes of exploding head syndrome still aren’t properly understood, but there are two main theories that have been proposed:
- Minor seizures in the temporal lobe.
- Involuntary movements of parts of the ear, such as the tympanum (the ear drum), or the tensor tympani (the muscle involved in reducing sound – e.g. the sound of chewing food).
In his study, Pearce wasn’t so convinced by these explanations though; he believed it would be better to classify exploding head syndrome along with other biological mechanisms that occur when falling asleep.
This includes the muscular jerks that many people experience, known either as hypnic jerks, sleep starts or nocturnal myoclonus.
More recently in 2010, the researchers Thorpy and Plazzi also wrote that they believe exploding head syndrome is a variant of hypnic jerks. They believe it’s more likely to be a variant of sleep starts than a parasomnia. They conclude that:
The EHS is a benign, usually self-limited, condition that is likely a sensory variant of the hypnic jerk. No testing or medications are necessary when the history is typical. Educations and reassurance are the cornerstones of therapy. If the symptoms occur multiple times a night and cause insomnia, a hypnotic may be useful.
1. Talk to your primary care doctor if you’re concerned by your symptoms. Your doctor can help reassure you that it’s harmless. And they may prescribe medication such as clomipramine.
2. There have been limited attempts to work out which other medications can help. There’s still isn’t a cure for EHS, but researchers have had some success with Tompimirate, Clonezapam, Clomipramine and Nifedipine. You can find out more about the effectiveness of these in this study.
3. Stress is known to be a factor that can increase the frequency and intensity of some parasomnias and sleep starts. If you suffer from stress or anxiety at night, you might find it helpful to try some specific relaxation techniques before sleeping.
4. Being very tired is thought to increase the likelihood of some parasomnias and sleep starts. So try to keep to a stable sleep schedule, and make lifestyle choices following the guidance of good sleep hygiene.
5. It’s important not to become anxious about falling asleep. Try not to worry that you’ll experience exploding head syndrome and that something bad will happen to you. Although it’s understandably quite disturbing, it’s not known to have any damaging effect on you.
(Please read before leaving a comment)
I’d like to thank all the many readers who’ve shared their story and offered ideas and support to others.
Unfortunately, I won’t be able to respond personally to any more comments on this article due to time constraints.
However, I’ll leave the comments open so that you can continue to share your thoughts, and communicate with other readers who have similar experiences.