Scary Fun: How Thrills Affect Inflammation

Do you like to get scared? Ever wondered if those chills could do something good for your health? Researchers in Denmark decided to find out. They picked a spooky haunted house as their lab, inviting visitors to experience the fright of their lives. The goal was to see how the sudden adrenaline rush affects the immune system. The team tracked heart rates and how scared people felt while exploring the haunted house. They also took blood samples before, right after, and three days later to measure inflammation and immune cell counts.Out of 113 adults who joined, about a fifth had signs of low-grade inflammation at the start. After the haunted house experience, some saw their inflammation markers go down. But overall, the proportion of people with inflammation didn't change much. Interestingly, the number of immune cells like leukocytes and lymphocytes decreased slightly for everyone, whether they had inflammation or not. This hints at a possible benefit from a good scare. So, while one scary experience might not totally fix inflammation, it could still have some positive effects. But remember, it's just a starting point. More research is needed to figure out if we should be prescribing haunted houses for health!