Why are we afraid of tickling? Is it possible to tickle children? People who died from tickling
Most people associate tickling with laughter. And in fact, the body's first reaction to tickling is laughter. However, prolonged tickling can turn into real torture.
Why is tickling needed?
Tickling is a certain effect on human skin that causes laughter. Moreover, laughter is usually accompanied involuntary movements bodies. Scientists believe that tickling plays a very important role important role in the life of animals. The body's reaction to external stimuli is a kind of danger signal. For example, tickling can warn us about the presence of insects on our body, including poisonous ones. According to experts, this is why we won't feel very aroused if we try to tickle ourselves.
The most vulnerable places for impact are armpits, neck, feet, popliteal fossae, abdomen and ribs. It is in these places that vital veins, arteries and organs are located. For example, the armpits contain arteries that lead directly to the heart muscle. AND this fact is further proof that tickling is necessary for humans and animals to protect their health.
Tickling is like torture
If you tickle a person long time, the tickling will become unbearable. The person will begin to experience spasms, pain, and other discomfort. Some scientists, such as the American psychologist David Hartley, believe that laughter caused by tickling has nothing to do with fun, but rather is a cry, a cry from the body for help.
It is these unpleasant properties of tickling that people have used as torture since ancient times. Most often, they simply moved the pen in the area of the armpits, neck, nipples or genitals. And the inventive Romans lowered their victim's legs into saline solution, and then the salty feet were given to the goat to lick. In India, insects were used for similar torture. Small beetles were placed on the suspect's nipples and covered with nutshells.
Can you be tickled to death?
Official medicine has not recorded a single case of death from tickling. However, this does not mean that it is impossible to die from tickling. Just the opposite. If exposed to a person's skin for a long time, he can actually die. But the cause of death will not be the tickling itself, but its consequences.
The fact is that tickling helps to increase blood pressure. It causes severe agitation, spasms of blood vessels and muscles. During tickling, the entire body is exposed to this effect, including respiratory system and heart. That is why the result of such “entertainment” can be respiratory arrest or a heart attack.
An action as seemingly harmless as tickling can become real torture for a sensitive person. At least, this is how people were tortured in Ancient China, Rome and Japan. In this regard, we have an answer to the most sensitive question.
Why do we feel funny when tickled?
WITH medical point sight, tickling is a stimulation of the nervous system, and in fact it has nothing to do with humor, therefore the laughter it causes is purely reflexive (like the reflexive tears caused by onions). But if in the case of cutting onions, nothing but tears connects the “onion cry” with the present (voice, facial expressions), then laughter from tickling is absolutely indistinguishable from “psychological”, because it is accompanied by corresponding facial expressions. Another reason American scientist Jaak Panksepp cites laughter during tickling is the fact that it uses the same emotional areas of the brain as laughter caused by humor.
By the way, the reflex that causes laughter when tickled is replaced by irritation with age.
Can you die from tickling?
Doctors say that when human body tickled, it becomes hyperexcitable. At this moment, any touch causes cramps and muscle spasms, and this, in turn, can lead to respiratory arrest. In addition, if a person has heart problems, then due to tickling it is possible either to stop it or to have a heart attack, all this is due to a spasm coronary arteries. But in any case, tickling is only a trigger, and the factor leading to death will still be an existing pathological process.
Children often ask to be tickled. Their mischief and playfulness are captivating, and many parents give in to these requests. But you shouldn’t give in to their persuasion so easily. After all, simple mischief can have quite a unpleasant consequences in future. Child psychologists and pediatricians have long proven that tickling is not such a safe entertainment.
Times have changed
It may seem to you that there is nothing terrible in this activity, because your parents tickled you, and everything was fine. But at the same time, children were driven in cars without special child seats, and smoked in their presence. Now we know that these are unsafe activities that can harm our kids. Times have changed. And our usual routines change along with them.
Now we have access to a huge amount of information that helps us not only with raising children, but also with all ordinary matters. Of course, we cannot accept some things right away, because they go against what our mothers and grandmothers taught us. But you shouldn't ignore it. After all, we want to live better than previous generations.
The issue of tickling children last years comes up quite often. This process is not as insidious as it might seem from the previous text, but it has several nuances that will make you wonder whether it is worth doing this with your child.
Tickling is an expression of dominance
Tickling explicitly raises the issue of power. According to Dr. Richard Alexander, professor of evolutionary biology at the Hubbell Laboratory at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, a child goes from laughing to crying quite quickly. And this is already considered an expression of dominance. Parents control the state to which the baby is brought. He compares laughter during tickling to obedient behavior among animals.
Supporting this point may be that tickling is also mentioned on BDSM sites as an ideal form of S&M due to characteristics such as "loss of control", "humiliation", "fighting", etc. When adults tickle children during games, of course, this does not indicate conscious negative intentions, but this does not mean that there cannot be a harmful result.
Tickling in history was torture
Another factor to consider is whether the activity may cause physical pain. It's easy to get carried away when you're tickling someone because it's nice to hear the other person squeal with delight. But learning how tickling was used historically can change your perspective on the activity.
Throughout history, tickling has been used as a form of torture. According to some sources, there have been cases where it even led to fatal suffocation. Of course, it is unlikely that today anyone has the intention of tickling them to death when they just want to play with children. However, the fact stated above suggests that this is not an entirely pleasant activity, since it could become an instrument of torture.
Children can't always stop adults
Many have childhood memories of being forcefully tickled by older children or parents. It was impossible to escape, and it was impossible to say a word from laughter. It is unlikely that such fun would bring pleasure when the children ran out of patience and began to fear for their lives. No one would call this kind of laughter happy.
When children are tickled without permission, they are not asked if the babies like it. In addition, even if a child is tickled at his own request, there is not always confidence that he will not change his mind during the process and will be able to tell you about it. He is oppressed by laughter, during which it is not always possible to speak, but even to breathe.
Laughter does not mean pleasure
If you've ever talked to someone who doesn't like being tickled, you know that they still can't stop laughing, even though they really don't like it.
This is exactly the question that was studied at the University of California at San Diego in 1997. Scientists have found that tickling does not produce the same pleasant sensation as when you laugh at a funny joke. This is just a defensive reaction in the form of reflexive laughter.
How does this relate to your child? The baby does not yet understand that such laughter is not real. Therefore, it is difficult for both him and the parents to assess the degree of pleasure of the baby.
Adults often refuse such entertainment
Tickling makes adults feel uncomfortable. They immediately ask to stop this activity. So why do we do things to our children that we wouldn’t want to experience ourselves? Why do we allow our children to experience this torture?
By tickling babies, we deprive them of the right to independently manage their bodies. They themselves must understand what feels good to them, such as brushing their hair, stroking their shoulders, or hugging them, and choose whether to allow adults to do this to them.
Some adults have trust issues due to childhood tickling
Dr. Alexander told The New York Times that tickling someone against their will can actually cause "great heartache" Of course, this may seem like a hyperbolic statement, until you encounter someone who literally flinches at the mention of tickling.
Patti Wipfler, a parenting expert and founder and director of Hand in Hand, sees tickling as a common root of problems with patients. She says that in her extensive experience, she has heard more than once from patients complaining of emotional problems due to the fact that tickling brought them only negative impressions.
Wipfler also states that adult patients report increased tension when they are in close proximity to another person. They are even afraid to be near their loved ones, because they are constantly afraid of even an accidental touch, which can cause tickling.
There are other ways to get uncontrollable laughter
Of course, there is a difference between who tickles a child - a parent or stranger. But in any case, children must give their consent to such actions with their bodies. And if you teach them to laugh from other fun activities, they will stop asking you for this fun.
The easiest way to get laughter is to make funny faces. At first only you can do this, then you can teach your children to do it too. Sit together near the mirror and have fun. This activity will not only give you joy, but will also contribute to the development of the child’s facial muscles.
Funny stories and active games are also good for raising your spirits. Look for what your children like best. This will give you hours of joint play, which is so important when communicating with your child.
Wait for consent from your child
In most cases, parents do not understand the logic of their children. This is due to the fact that kids often follow their immediate desires. Therefore, it is so important to start teaching them to accept them as early as possible. right decisions. Children must understand that there are consequences for each of them. If they like tickling, then kids should understand that adults will not always stop in time and a funny game can turn into torture.
If you do not teach your child to make the right decisions and agree to certain actions, a communication barrier may arise in the future, which will become increasingly difficult to overcome over the years.
You can teach them, starting with the simplest: ask permission from adults, do not give children your things without asking, and do not take toys from them until you are allowed to do so. Teach your child to build personal space. In the future, this will help him give up not only tickling, but also other negative actions: taking alcohol or drugs, unprotected sex.
Nature of the reaction human body tickling still has no solid explanation. Some scientists suggest that laughter caused by exposure to sensitive areas skin, is the primary physiological expression of fear. Other researchers insist that the tickling sensation came from to modern man from ancestors as a means of detecting harmful insects on the body.
Torture by laughter
There is documentary evidence that tickling in ancient times used as an instrument of torture and punishment in Asian countries. The unfortunate man was tied up, his feet were smeared with something attractive to the cow, and she licked his heels until the criminal confessed to his crime. True, it is not reliably unclear whether the person suffered more from tickling or pain, because the surface of a cow’s tongue could damage skin tissue.
Scientists do not deny the possibility of dying from tickling, because nervous excitement can cause a spasm respiratory organs or even cardiac arrest. This outcome is most likely in people with epilepsy, asthma or cardiovascular disease. However healthy body is able to independently control the sensitivity of skin receptors and regulate the body’s response to such irritation, and in history modern medicine Not a single case of human death from tickling has been recorded.
But death from uncontrollable laughter is quite possible. This is confirmed by numerous facts. For example, in 2003, a man in Taiwan died from a momentary fit of laughter in his sleep. The same fate befell Chrysippus, the ancient Greek philosopher, who gave his donkey wine to drink for fun.
The easiest parts of the body to tickle are the soles of the feet and the armpits.
Uncontrollable laughter during tickling is still an unexplored phenomenon.
A person cannot independently induce laughter through tickling - the cerebellum supplies nervous system signal, and she is ready not to react to the false stimulus.
With age, a person becomes less susceptible to tickling, as the sensitivity of the skin weakens.
Not only people, but also some animals are afraid of tickles. Thus, during the experiments it was found that rats and gorillas make certain sounds, although not similar to laughter, but having the same nature as it.
It is possible if you tickle for a long time.
Tickle torture was widespread in ancient times. IN different countries Tickle torture had a sophisticated form; people, unable to bear it, died in agony.
Interestingly, a person cannot tickle himself, since the brain is programmed to protect a person from a possible addiction to self-tickling. This means that tickling is not such a harmless process.
Tickling a person for a long time causes his body to become hyperexcitable; even the lightest touches can cause convulsions and muscle spasms which are responsible for breathing. As a result, the person begins to choke and eventually dies from suffocation.
So, if you like to tickle anyone, be attentive and careful, since everyone’s body is individual and so is sensitivity.
Those who want to become stronger, that is, stop being afraid of tickling, need to perform simple exercises that will help you learn to control yourself and your emotions:
1) Calm down, close your eyes and mentally imagine a situation where someone is tickling you very much. This thought alone will make goosebumps appear on your body. Then switch to some pleasant thought. By doing this exercise for a week, you will get rid of the initial sensations (goosebumps).
2) You need to ask someone close to put their hand on the most ticklish spot. After 2-3 minutes, you need to relax your tense body and focus on the other person’s hand.
3) Ask loved one tickle you. You need to think that you no longer have a fear of tickling. You can just relax and think about something pleasant.