SEATTLE – A study of college students found one-in-five suffer from a syndrome that causes them to be awakened by an abrupt but non-existent loud noise, according to research from Washington State University.
It's known as "exploding head syndrome." People who suffer from it may also have the sensation of an explosion in their head. Researchers say it tends to happen as people are falling asleep.
The condition is typically found in people over 50, but WSU researchers found that 20% of college students in the study reported experiencing it.
The study also found that more than one-third of people with exploding head syndrome experienced what is called isolated sleep paralysis. A person who suffers from this can't move or speak when waking up. It can also cause the person to dream with their eyes open.
Assistant Professor Brian Sharpless equates the condition to shutting down a computer. But instead of all the parts of the brain shutting down properly, the auditory neurons fire all fire 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," Sharpless said.
People with the condition may mistakenly believe they are having a seizure.
Sharpless said there are no empirically supported treatments for exploding head syndrome.
211 undergraduate students were interviewed for the study. The results are published in the Journal of Sleep Research.
