Health & Fit The Scientific Reason We Love Getting Scared So Much

Fear is one of the basest emotions possessed by humans (and living things in general, for that matter). It's been around as long as we have, its main purpose to alert us to and keep us out of danger. And yet, though this certainly seems like a negative emotion, we can't deny that a lot of us really love being scared. Skydiving and bungee jumping are fairly commonplace vacation thrills. We gladly watch movies that make us scream and cover our eyes. And we plan our autumns around spooktastic experiences like the best (and scariest) haunted houses in America. Why do we willingly put ourselves in situations that are guaranteed to terrify us?

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Well, the answer is multifaceted because not exactly every person handles fear the same way. But science might just have something to help explain our need to be spooked. A study led by Vanderbilt University’s David Zald dove into how the brain handles fear and how certain people’s brains might be wired to enjoy it a bit more than others.

One chemical that can be released when entering into a scary situation is dopamine, the hormone responsible for triggering pleasure responses in the body. In the brain, “autoreceptors” are responsible for relaying to the body when it should cease production of these hormones in scary situations. People who enjoy thrills, Zald’s research posits, tend to have fewer autoreceptors, so their brain tends to freewheel more in its production of dopamine.

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“Think of dopamine like gasoline,” Zald told National Geographic, “You combine that with a brain equipped with a lesser ability to put on the brakes than normal, and you get people who push limits.”

The other hormone which plays a key role in one’s enjoyment of a scary situation is adrenaline. Adrenaline is released when the body perceives itself to be in a dangerous situation and that, in turn, triggers the fight-or-flight response. The fight-or-flight response primes the body for risky situations by making it more responsive, aware, and dangerous.

However, when you’re, say, watching a horror movie, the brain is able to recognize that there is no need to stay in fight-or-flight mode. The perceived threat can’t actually reach through the screen and grab you, but the adrenal response has already been activated and you are able to enjoy the benefits of an adrenaline high without actually being chased by an ax murderer. "To really enjoy a scary situation, we have to know we’re in a safe environment," Dr. Margee Kerr, a staff sociologist at ScareHouse, a year-round haunted house, told the Atlantic. "It’s all about triggering the amazing fight-or-flight response to experience the flood of adrenaline, endorphins, and dopamine, but in a completely safe space."

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In short, you’re tricking your brain that it’s about to get stabbed in a shower, or eaten by a shark, or...insert classic scary movie death here, and you reap the sweet, sweet chemical benefits. You can experience that scared-silly feeling with our choices for the scariest movies of all time.

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Here are the 4 keys to happiness at work according to a scientist

© Terrafemina Here are the 4 keys to happiness at work according to a scientist.

A happiness specialist has defined the four pillars of job satisfaction. Scoop: neither the salary nor the good atmosphere are part of it.

And if happiness at work could be defined by a scientific approach? That's what Raj Raghunathan tried to do. As a marketing professor and incidentally expert in happiness at the University of Austin, Texas, he tried to define the four principles that make us satisfied with the work for which we were hired.

According to the teacher, being happy at work does not pay for the high salary , nor the pleasant work space, nor the good atmosphere prevailing at the office. According to him, four elements come into play.

First of all, mastery is the feeling that we are really good at something and that we are useful as a cog in the business.

The second component of professional happiness is the sense of belonging or intimacy that binds us to the other people who make up our work team.

The third is autonomy, the feeling of not being a puppet in the hands of someone else, but rather the author of our own judgments and decisions.

Finally, the fourth pillar of happiness at work - and probably the most important - is the impression of abundance: having the impression of being constantly challenged, stimulated and constantly being asked for his skills with the definition of concrete objectives contributes to the well-being of the employees within the company.

On the site Quora , Raj Raghunathan completes his presentation of happiness at work by explaining to companies that it is by guaranteeing the maintenance of these four pillars that they will create a climate conducive to the development of their employees and so of their turnover.