They say laughter is the best medicine, but a bit of fear might be a strong contender. This is according to researchers who聽found that getting spooked in a haunted house attraction seemed to lower some people鈥檚 levels of inflammation.
Hyperventilation stimulates the nervous system in a similar way to fear while , which prompted at Aarhus University in Denmark and his colleagues to wonder if being scared has the same effect.
To find out, the team looked at 113 people who spent one hour in a haunted house attraction in the city of Vejle in Denmark. They drew blood from the participants right before and after they made their way through the house鈥檚 50 rooms, which were filled with clowns, zombies and butchers with pig masks wielding chainsaws. The researchers also took blood samples three days later.
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They focused on the 22 participants who had slightly elevated inflammation 鈥� measured by levels of a marker called C-reactive protein (CRP) 鈥� prior to entering the haunted house. Three days after the visit, 18 of these participants had significantly reduced CRP levels.
鈥淲e know that low-grade inflammation in chronic form is unhealthy,鈥� so reducing it could have benefits, says Andersen. But the study didn鈥檛 control for stress, alcohol consumption or menstrual phase, which can affect CRP levels.
鈥淚 would hesitate to say that if you watch scary movies, you can extend your lifespan,鈥� says at Florida State University in Tallahassee. However, social stimuli that conjure up terror, such as horror films, may temporarily lower inflammation, he says.
This could partly explain why some people enjoy such experiences, says Shattuck, but he adds that this is probably more related to the adrenaline rush they experience.
While inflammation has been linked to many health conditions, including heart disease and dementia, it is also a vital part of the immune response, and probably shouldn鈥檛 be lowered too much. 鈥淚鈥檇 imagine that there鈥檚 a Goldilocks effect,鈥� says Shattuck. 鈥淲e wouldn鈥檛 want to downregulate inflammation to the point where [it鈥檚] less effective in helping us fight off infection. That said, I do wonder how plausible that would be; the immune system is pretty resilient.鈥�
Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
Article amended on 29 November 2024
The headline and article have been changed to clarify the level of inflammation the participants had at the start.
