Our body releases natural opiates, akin to morphine, oxycontin, and heroin. Natural versions of these chemicals flood our brain and bind to neural receptors that would normally make us experience a negative sensation. Bad feelings create a pleasing contrast effect. When we push through fear and pain, we can get a mind-over-matter hit of pride.
There is nothing hotter than Puckerbutt Farm’s Carolina Reaper Hot Sauce... and author Leigh Cowart gargles it for FUN!!! Why do we sometimes get a happiness high from painful and scary things? And what if we want to experience the fun of discomfort and danger... but without the risk of coming to real harm?
With the help of Leigh, psychology professor Paul Bloom and the Yale philosopher Tamar Gendler, Dr Laurie Santos finds out how we can fool ourselves into reaping all the benefits of danger without actually being in peril.
For further reading:
Leigh Cowart - Hurts So Good: The Science and Culture of Pain on Purpose.
Paul Bloom - The Sweet Spot: The Pleasures of Suffering and the Search for Meaning.
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