A Bloody Nose
A common cliché of super-heroics, science fiction and fantasy is that using psychic powers causes nose bleeds. Individuals who are the recipients of psychic attacks are also susceptible to these nose bleeds as well — and even bleeding ears and eyes in extreme cases (the end of God Loves, Man Kills for example).
Does this concept make any medical sense or has it simply become a quick way of showing that someone is using psychic powers?
What causes nose bleeds1?
The nose is very vascular. In other words, there are a lot of blood vessels near the surface. This is because one of the functions of the nose is to warm air as it is inhaled. The blood vessels in the nose give off enough heat to warm the air. Unfortunately because of all of these blood vessels near the surface, it doesn’t take much for the nose to start bleeding.
The most common causes for nose bleeds include trauma (such as fists…and fingers), extremely dry air, high blood pressure, irritation (blowing your nose repeatedly), foreign bodies, infections, and blood disorders. You’ll notice that the use of psychic powers is not in the differential diagnosis of epistaxis1.
Why would using psychic powers cause a nose bleed?
- Is the individual thinking so hard and concentrating so fiercely that blood vessels in the nose just start popping? Nonsense! If this were possible then everyone taking the SAT would get a bloody nose (“Do not open the test booklet until instructed to do so. Use only a #2 pencil. If you make a mistake, make sure you erase your mark completely. If you get a nosebleed, use the tissue provided. Students getting blood on the answer sheet will be marked down.”)
- Are the psychics straining so hard that they raise their blood pressure high enough to burst arteries in their nose? High blood pressure can certainly cause nose bleeds, but I’d be a lot more concerned about other problems high blood pressure causes such as heart attacks and strokes. If high blood pressure were the reason for the bloody noses, we’d see psychics and telepaths dropping like flies from strokes and heart attacks. And are they straining any harder than the more physical heroes who are lifting houses and bench pressing Buicks? You never see those heroes with bloody noses.
- Could the use of psychic powers raise the pressure of the the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) – the liquid surrounding the brain and spinal cord? This would be suicide. Elevated CSF pressure doesn’t cause nose bleeds but it sure does cause comas.
- Are psychics closet nose pickers2? Frankly it’s as good — if not better — than the other theories.
What about bleeding from the ears and eyes?
This makes even less sense. These structures aren’t as vascular as the nose and aren’t as prone to bleeding. They are also less affected by high blood pressure and other physiological changes.
In conclusion
I’m willing to accept that bloody noses3 are “comic book shorthand” for someone using psychic powers or being on the receiving end of psychic powers. I can even almost accept bleeding ears and eyes. Just don’t expect me to pretend it makes any sort of medical sense.
Notes:
1 The medical term for a nose bleed is epistaxis. That’s just a cool word.
2 A bloody nose caused by picking the nose is referred to as epistaxis digitorum.
3 I hereby name a nose bleed caused by psychic powers epistaxis telepathica.
August 17th, 2005 at 12:12 am
Maybe telepathic, telekinetic and mind control powers aren’t mass-less, intangible forces. Maybe they all work on the basis of some sort of “tele-energies,” which do have actual (albiet very weak and nearly imperceptible) physical properties. When they leave the brain of the user and travel out to their target, they pass through the furthest point on the human head — the nose! Repeated or heavy use of tele-energies that do weaken the blood vessels and cause bleeding.
Clearly this a total load of horses***, but hey, imagine trying to describe atomic theory or neutrinos to someone in the 18th century.
August 17th, 2005 at 5:28 am
How about bloody noses being “manga shorthand” for someone shy feeling sexually aroused?
http://everything2.com/index.pl?node=nosebleed
August 17th, 2005 at 10:34 am
Maybe they the powers channel through different openings
in the head like tear ducts, nose, mouth, and ears.
Or maybe it’s Nose Power!!!1
August 17th, 2005 at 4:26 pm
“Are the psychics straining so hard that they raise their blood pressure high enough to burst arteries in their nose … And are they straining any harder than the more physical heroes who are lifting houses and bench pressing Buicks?”
Maybe part of the *process* of using psychic powers requires increasing the blood pressure in the head, to “supercharge” the brain. Say it doesn’t cause a stroke since the brain blood vessels of psychics have a corresponding adaptation to cope with the “supercharging”. Unfortunately, their facial blood vessels don’t have this enhanced toughness, hence the
bleeding in eye/ears/nose/(throat?)
August 17th, 2005 at 10:09 pm
I always thought it was meant to be brain bleeding, it just happened to escape out the nose. People do it when they have non-psychic problems on lots of shows, right before they pass out.
Of course, I am completely unknowledgeable on the subject, so whatever.
August 20th, 2005 at 6:57 pm
I thought it was a case of comic writers having watched “The Fury” too many times….
August 22nd, 2005 at 1:49 am
Nosebleeds look cool, that’s why.
September 21st, 2005 at 12:04 am
I always assumed it was elevated blood pressure, and frankly expected the Invisible Woman to croak off by the end of the Fantastic Four movie.
Perhaps that was wishful thinking on my part.
February 10th, 2006 at 7:38 pm
Are psychics closet nose pickers?
That one gets my vote. Hell, you’re right. It makes more sense then the others.
November 8th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
Two years later, the obvious answer hit me:
“Cold spots” have long been associated with poltergeist activity and other paranormal manifestations.
Cold air retains less moisture than warm air.
Use of psychic powers creates cold spots that dry out the air around the psychic. Extreme psychic exertions will dry the air out so thoroughly that nosebleeds result.
March 3rd, 2008 at 5:11 pm
It was also a plot device used by Stephen King in “Firestarter.”
November 12th, 2008 at 1:58 am
Perhaps it’s because psychics do a lot of coke?
November 19th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
[…] First, here is Scott’s primer on nosebleeds. […]
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