# Can a person suffocate if their diaphragm cramps up?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-suffocate-if-their-diaphragm-cramps-up/850175>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 24, 2020, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-suffocate-if-their-diaphragm-cramps-up/850175 "2020-03-24T13:53:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![LynnM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@LynnM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LynnM)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-suffocate-if-their-diaphragm-cramps-up/850175/1 "2020-03-24T13:53:14Z")

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I was watching SCTV clips of Martin Short last night, and started wondering: If a person laughs so hard that their diaphragm cramps up, and can’t flex/release or expand/contract, how would the person breathe? Are there supplemental muscles that kick in?

Being somewhat, or totally, physiologically/anatomically ignorant, I don’t know how this works.

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**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-suffocate-if-their-diaphragm-cramps-up/850175/2 "2020-03-24T14:03:32Z")

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I think under such circumstances it would be likely that you would start breathing when you passed out. Not certain, mind you.

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**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-suffocate-if-their-diaphragm-cramps-up/850175/3 "2020-03-24T14:37:05Z")

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The intercostal muscles are used. You can suffer a herniated diaphragm yet continue to respire.

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**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-suffocate-if-their-diaphragm-cramps-up/850175/4 "2020-03-24T17:11:08Z")

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Wikipedia has a list of people who allegedly died from laughter:

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death\_from\_laughter](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_from_laughter)

A lot of them are from antiquity though so probably should be taken with a grain of salt.

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**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-person-suffocate-if-their-diaphragm-cramps-up/850175/5 "2020-03-24T17:12:52Z")

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Sorry, here is the actual list:

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_deaths\_from\_laughter](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deaths_from_laughter)