Early development: Babies experience tickling differently than expected

• Why are some areas more sensitive to tickling?
• Why can't I tickle myself?
• What is the use of tickling?
• Is tickling dangerous?
• Is it possible to die from tickling?
• Why do people react differently to tickling?
• How to stop tickling
• How to get rid of tickle phobia

Tickling is one of the factors of emotional connection between people. This is an unconditioned reflex that helps to respond to external stimuli. Not all people have a fear of tickling. Some may not respond to tickling. Sensitive people find tickling enjoyable, while others find it irritating.

Tickling can bring both negative and positive emotions

It is divided into two types - knismesis and gargalesis. Knismesis - tickling with a feather or blade of grass. Gargalesis is intense tickling with the fingers. The fear of being tickled by feathers is called pteronophobia.

Why are some areas more sensitive to tickling?

The most vulnerable parts of the body - the feet and armpits - react to tickling. It is there that there are nerve nodes, large blood vessels, and joints. Between the armpits there is the axillary vein and artery.

The neck, chest, and genital area are also sensitive areas. The carotid and vertebral arteries pass through the neck. They supply the brain with blood. The trachea is located in the neck area. Through it, air enters the lungs. Therefore, for these parts of the body, tickling is an irritant and a stimulant.

There are fewer nerve endings in other areas of the body. Therefore, they are less sensitive to tickling.

What is tickling for?

An automatic reflex response to push away the cause of the tickling can protect these sensitive areas. Tickling is a reflexive response. Some people don't like tickling, but it can still trigger the laughter reflex. Just as a person can cry while cutting an onion without feeling sad, laughter does not always indicate pleasure. A group of scientists scanned their brains and then tickled their feet. They found that the area of ​​the brain associated with involuntary responses (the hypothalamus) was active during tickling laughter [1]. This suggests that the response to tickling is involuntary. The authors also noted that the brain may process tickling as a painful experience. This may explain why some people withdraw in response to tickling. Another study found [2] that the brain reacts differently depending on whether the laughter was caused by a tickle or a joke with friends. This supports the idea that tickling is a reflexive response.

A person may respond to tickling more if they know who is tickling them. The response to tickling depends in part on the person's mood. A person does not respond to tickling if he is sad or angry.

Why can't I tickle myself?

A person distinguishes between unexpected and expected touches. When he is tickled, a defensive reaction to stimuli appears. This is laughter.

When someone tries to tickle themselves, a signal goes to the brain. A tomography study showed that the cerebellum blocks the reaction. He instantly analyzes the sensations on the fingers, the actions of the hands, and the body.

Additionally, it controls nerve endings. This is how the cerebellum warns the body about possible stimulation of the nervous system. Subsequently, the reaction is suppressed, and the expected sensations do not occur.

Is there a risk of dying from tickling?

theoretically possible that a person will die due to prolonged or intense tickling . After all, the brain actively sends a danger signal, causing the nervous system to become excited.

Inhalations and exhalations become sharper, the person literally “chokes” with laughter. If he has problems with the respiratory system, then there is a certain risk of suffocation.

Also, do not forget about the increased heart rate when tickled. People with heart disease can have an attack with a tragic outcome.

However, no deaths due to tickling have yet been recorded . Therefore, you should not prohibit children from such pranks. In addition, they usually quickly get bored with the game of tickling, and they switch their attention to something else.

What is the use of tickling?

Psychologists say that tickling is a warning mechanism for the body. It protects - it forces you to pay attention to the object of irritation. They don't always tickle with fingers or a feather. Poisonous insects can be irritants. If they startle, a fear of tickling occurs.

Useful properties of tickling:

1. According to psychotherapists, this is part of the highest level of interaction between people. It implies closeness and interest of people to each other. This is one of the forms of communication between a mother and a small child.
2. She brings joy. The man laughs and feels pleasure. Laughter is a reflex reaction to stimuli.
3. Laughter helps you lose weight. 20 minutes of sincere laughter burns 60 kcal. You can lose 5 kg in a year without dieting.
4. Prevention of heart failure. Every day you need to tickle your ears for 10 minutes. Use gentle stimulation. Then the nerve signals decrease. This speeds up the heart's work.

Tickling provides sexual pleasure. This is one of the options for foreplay in sexual relations. In this way you can bring your partner to orgasm. Touches should be gentle and sensual.

Some people enjoy tickling their partner. Others enjoy watching someone get tickled. If a person has knismolagnia (sexual arousal from tickling), such foreplay takes the form of sexual fetishism. Therefore, you need to know when to stop.

Knismolagnia - sexual arousal from tickling

Reaction to tickling in adults and children

Why are children afraid of tickling, but most adults are not? With age, there is a gradual decrease in tactile sensitivity. Therefore, older people are less afraid of tickling, despite the fact that in childhood it brought a lot of emotions.

In fact, tickling is not something to be afraid of. You have to learn to enjoy it. Even people who have a low sensitivity threshold, in a relaxed state, can laugh when tickled. What could be better than laughter? It’s not for nothing that they say that laughter prolongs life.

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Author: Victoria Semernya

Is tickling dangerous?

Most scientists talk about the benefits of tickling, but it can be harmful. Previously, it was used as torture on troublemakers: tied to a bed and tickled with bird feathers, straw or dry grass.

There was another method. The criminal's feet were dipped in salt water. After that, the goat licked them. She has a rough tongue. She used it to tickle the person. For the first 5-10 minutes he could enjoy such an action, then he experienced pain. The man was writhing in agony and could die from an excess of emotions and nervous tension.

Is it possible to die from tickling?

Theoretically this is possible. According to scientists, tickling is a passive protective reaction of the body to irritants. Although the person does not experience severe pain, the brain perceives the tickling as a threat. Laughter is not at all an indicator of pleasure or fun. This is a signal that a person wants to get rid of this condition, a reaction to overstrain of the nervous system.

Doctors have found that in the process of tickling a person becomes hyperexcitable. Every light touch causes muscle cramps and spasms. There is a slight fear. The longer the tickling lasts, the stronger the fear will be.

The body tenses to eliminate the stimulus. The tickle victim may suffocate and die. But this only applies to those who have respiratory problems. There are no recorded cases of death from tickling.

Tickling is very scary and unpleasant, or why you shouldn’t tickle children

The sonorous laughter of a baby is the sweetest sounds in the world! I want to listen to them again and again. It's not difficult to tickle a child. And he laughs out loud again! Is this fun really that good?

Think about it: are you sure that a little person enjoys tickling?

Surely, there have been cases when everyone noticed that after prolonged tickling and laughter, the child starts crying. Now we are not talking about short-term touches with sincere fun, but about those situations when he is forcibly held and not released from the embrace.

The child is in pain and is in discomfort: he feels fear, hostility. This is how you mercilessly humiliate your baby without even knowing it.

Yes, you will hear laughter, but it will be through tears. Because at this moment the baby is being forcibly pressed by an adult. To better understand what a child experiences during prolonged tickling, ask an adult to do the same with you. So how? It was fun?

The thing is that tickling is irritation of nerve impulses. If places are especially sensitive, then laughter occurs reflexively and is not associated with fun. If it is short-term and voluntary, then there is nothing wrong with it. The child himself is able to stop playing at any time, and step aside as soon as he gets tired. Such a game will not harm anyone.

But scientists have not yet fully unraveled the secret of why people's brain reactions to tickling are so different. However, it is known that if the areas of the armpits, knees and feet are exposed for a long time, problems of a somatic or neurological nature can be provoked. There are known cases leading to fainting. History knows examples when tickling was used in prisons in India and China. This is one of the ways to torture prisoners.

Tickling with forcible restraint is regarded as suppression and humiliation of a person and his dignity (regardless of laughter).

During the tickling process, people completely lose control of themselves and experience severe tension in the central nervous system. And in the case of a child, this is an awareness of violence, where there are no boundaries of inviolability. This could have a detrimental effect on him in his future adult life.

Scientists have discovered that tickling does not cause the happy feelings that fill us during moments of fun. It's just an illusion of joy. Young children may begin to feel fear or resentment towards their relatives, fearing they will be trapped.

Tickling without the consent of someone who is against it is a clear manifestation of your sense of power over another.

So, if you ever witness such a questionable prank on a child, do not hesitate and stop it immediately. Protect the child, because he cannot yet stand up for himself. Help your child defend his personal boundaries.

Otherwise, you may get the impression that violence and humiliation are the norm.

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How to stop tickling

Place your hand on the hand of the person who is tickling. A signal will go to your brain that you are tickling yourself. And then the sensitivity will decrease and the unpleasant sensations will go away. The main thing is to catch the tickler's hand. This method is often used by pediatricians when examining the abdomen in children.

To stop tickling, you need to catch the tickler's hand.

Ways to deal with fear

To get rid of the unpleasant sensations caused by tickling, a number of exercises have been developed:

1. 1. To perform the first, you need to take a comfortable position. Imagining that he is beginning to be tickled, a person should evoke the appearance of goosebumps on his skin, characteristic of this moment. And then immediately switch your imagination to warm, pleasant sensations. The cycle of imagining the tickling sensation and exiting this state should be repeated several times. The exercise should be done until the person no longer has any discomfort at the memory of being tickled.
2. 2. To stop being afraid of tickling, at the moment it starts, you need to make every effort to distract yourself and relax. To do this, you need to imagine yourself wrapped in a warm, soft blanket. This exercise helps both to get used to the sensation itself and to reduce the discomfort associated with it.
3. 3. After performing the previous two exercises for a long time (at least a week), a person needs to ask someone from his family to tickle him in the most sensitive places: neck, feet, heels, under the knee, in the ribs or abdomen. At this time, it is necessary to make every effort to relax as much as possible, to feel that tickling does not pose anything dangerous and does not cause harm.

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Concentration

Psychologists say that full concentration on the properties of the influencing object will help you to distract yourself from unpleasant touches:

• its temperature;
• heaviness;
• size;
• texture.

The more detailed the analysis of the characteristics of the irritating factor, the faster the brain will be distracted from unpleasant sensations, they will fade into the background.

Are children and animals afraid of tickling?

Tickling is not unique to humans; it occurs in animals.

Some mammals, including monkeys and mice, also respond to tickling.

Babies do not respond to tickling with laughter until they are 6 months old. Some researchers believe that children begin to respond to tickling when they learn that tickling is supposed to be fun.

If the tickle response is a reflex, perhaps few people can stop reacting to tickling. Scientific research has not found a specific strategy to help people become ticklish-free.

Researchers still don't fully understand why people respond to tickling. This does not appear to be related to personality or physical characteristics, although people with nerve damage or decreased sensitivity to pain do not respond to tickling. A person who suddenly loses their tickle reflex should see a doctor. A significant change in the nervous system's response may indicate a problem related to the nerves.

Different people react to tickling differently, for some it can be funny, for others it can be unpleasant, even if they all laugh. Always ask the person for their consent before tickling them.