# Will you get a likely heart attack from sucking your thumb? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 28, 2017, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-get-a-likely-heart-attack-from-sucking-your-thumb/787591 "2017-05-28T14:16:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dude\_robert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8e7dd6/32.png) [@dude\_robert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dude_robert)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2017, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-get-a-likely-heart-attack-from-sucking-your-thumb/787591/1 "2017-05-28T14:16:01Z")
Once I read on the internet that there is a very good chance for “adults” which was vague but let’s just say above 25, to have a high chance of dying from a heart attack if they sucked their thumbs. I think it was in that “dangerous” way of sucking on things by using your lungs to draw air in with your thumb in an airtight seal inside your mouth, and not sucking normally with your mouth. I mean, it does feel vaguely risky when you do that, so surely something has to give, right? Also, does over breathing and then holding for a few seconds have a good chance of seriously damaging something? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2017, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-get-a-likely-heart-attack-from-sucking-your-thumb/787591/2 "2017-05-28T15:08:46Z")
No and no. Both activities are completely physiologic and do not cause any increased risk for untoward outcomes. Everybody does some sort of physiologic equivalent of those activities, in the form of valsalva maneuvers or ordinary eating and swallowing, daily. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2017, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-get-a-likely-heart-attack-from-sucking-your-thumb/787591/3 "2017-05-28T15:21:12Z")
> [@dude\_robert](#): > > Once I read on the internet… That’s all I had to read. ---
**Author:** ![dude\_robert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8e7dd6/32.png) [@dude\_robert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dude_robert)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2017, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-get-a-likely-heart-attack-from-sucking-your-thumb/787591/4 "2017-05-28T15:30:03Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > No and no. > > Both activities are completely physiologic and do not cause any increased risk for untoward outcomes. Everybody does some sort of physiologic equivalent of those activities, in the form of valsalva maneuvers or ordinary eating and swallowing, daily. I mean sucking from the lungs, not the mouth. Most of the time, such as when you are drinking through a straw, you are sucking through the mouth, but I was talking about attempting to pull air through the lungs through your mouth when there is a blockage. Surely at the least this would put strain on the lungs and prolonged sucking would make them rip or tear apart. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2017, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-get-a-likely-heart-attack-from-sucking-your-thumb/787591/5 "2017-05-28T15:40:19Z")
I’m pretty certain an argument using, “Surely…” is on the ropes. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2017, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-get-a-likely-heart-attack-from-sucking-your-thumb/787591/6 "2017-05-28T15:43:16Z")
> [@dude\_robert](#): > > Once I read on the internet… Cite. _Thumbsucking Quarterly_? _The Pacifier_? _Linus_? > [@dude\_robert](#): > > Also, does over breathing and then holding for a few seconds have a good chance of seriously damaging something? No, don’t do this. You will immediately break out in shingles. ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2017, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-get-a-likely-heart-attack-from-sucking-your-thumb/787591/7 "2017-05-28T15:49:33Z")
> [@dude\_robert](#): > > Surely… this would put strain on the lungs and … make them rip … apart. I’m imagining someone laying in bed, thumb in mouth and BOOM! their lungs explode 😃 Yeah I don’t think this is something you have to worry about unless there are aliens around. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2017, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-get-a-likely-heart-attack-from-sucking-your-thumb/787591/8 "2017-05-28T15:49:50Z")
> [@dude\_robert](#): > > I mean sucking from the lungs, not the mouth. Most of the time, such as when you are drinking through a straw, you are sucking through the mouth, but I was talking about attempting to pull air through the lungs through your mouth when there is a blockage. > > Surely at the least this would put strain on the lungs and prolonged sucking would make them rip or tear apart. Why on earth would you think that? Breathe wrong and the body tears itself apart??? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2017, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-get-a-likely-heart-attack-from-sucking-your-thumb/787591/9 "2017-05-28T16:30:01Z")
OP, do you have a blue blankie that your neighbor’s beagle keeps trying to steal from you? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2017, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-get-a-likely-heart-attack-from-sucking-your-thumb/787591/10 "2017-05-28T16:42:47Z")
Eating pistachio ice cream can increase your IQ by 15 points and add 25 years to your life span. This is true because you just read it on the internet. ---
**Author:** ![dude\_robert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8e7dd6/32.png) [@dude\_robert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dude_robert)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2017, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-get-a-likely-heart-attack-from-sucking-your-thumb/787591/11 "2017-05-28T17:29:33Z")
Well, I can’t find the article anymore. I read few years ago, though, and it was on a smaller, lesser unknown website so it might be gone. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2017, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-get-a-likely-heart-attack-from-sucking-your-thumb/787591/12 "2017-05-28T17:37:15Z")
> [@dude\_robert](#): > > Once I read on the internet that there is a very good chance for “adults” which was vague but let’s just say above 25, to have a high chance of dying from a heart attack if they sucked their thumbs. I think it was in that “dangerous” way of sucking on things by using your lungs to draw air in with your thumb in an airtight seal inside your mouth, and not sucking normally with your mouth. Why would this be dangerous for adults, but not children under the age of 5? ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2017, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-get-a-likely-heart-attack-from-sucking-your-thumb/787591/13 "2017-05-28T18:10:43Z")
> [@dude\_robert](#): > > Well, I can’t find the article anymore. I read few years ago, though, and it was on a smaller, lesser unknown website so it might be gone. Just as well. Seems like it’s been haunting you ever since. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2017, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-you-get-a-likely-heart-attack-from-sucking-your-thumb/787591/14 "2017-05-28T18:18:23Z")
I tend to breathe through my nose. Doing that is sufficient for all but the most labor-intensive activities. Were I to be sucking my thumb, it would not be creating a blockage, and it is not common for thumb-sucking to occur during heavy work or exercise. So, no, no risk. At all.