Is Fear Good For You? “HOLY CRAP, A ZOMBIE!” and Other Unusual Health Tips
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Fear. It's that primal emotion that makes you scream when a spider drops from the ceiling. Or shriek when your cat knocks over a lamp at 2am. Or shiver when you see a floating red balloon near a sewer grate. Is that just me?

Fear has kept us alive since we were running from saber-toothed brontosaurus woolly mammoth tigers. Or whatever prehistoric beast we thought looked at us funny. I didn't pay a lot of attention in biology class or history. Come to think of it, school was not my best subject, but I digress. Today, some people actively seek out fear. It's a designer drug on sale at Walmart for Black Friday. We binge on horror movies or voluntarily walk into haunted houses. What gives?

Are we just thrill-seekers, or are we health-seekers at the same time? According to some scientists in Denmark, who were obviously tired of doing experiments on windmills and studying life-sized sculptures of the Little Mermaid built out of Legos, they decided to do a little research on fear.

It turns out fear isn't just good for our fight-or-flight survival. It's actually good for you in other ways. If you do fear right -- like not getting killed by a saber-toothed brontosaurus woolly mammoth tiger -- a healthy dose of fright could be the key to better mental and physical health.

*** Yeah, fear is officially self-care now. Move over bubble baths and yoga mats, we need room to collect our horror novels! Now located in the health and fitness section of your local bookstore.

For their study, Danish researchers gathered a group of volunteers and sent them into a haunted house. ***Because nothing screams "scientific rigor" like paying people to be terrified by fake zombies. These haunted houses for the uninitiated are theme parks designed to make you regret eating chili before coming. They're full of jump scares, eerie noises, and people in masks who take their jobs way too seriously. ***And we love them for that.

Before and after the terror tour, the researchers drew blood from the participants to check for inflammation levels. ***Because you're not scared enough by the rotting corpse in the morbid maze trying to eat your brains, now you have a real-life needle coming at you. Twice! I'd rather have a second dose of those peeled grapes that were supposed to be eyeballs, thank you. But I guess drawing blood despite being very vampiric is the best way to check inflammation levels.

Inflammation is often linked to stress, which is something you should have experienced in The Haunted House if the actors were doing their job right. And the results? The Haunted House didn't just scare the crap out of people – see, I told you you'd regret eating that chili beforehand – it lowered their inflammation levels. That's right, screaming your lungs out because a guy with a chainsaw chased you through a fog machine might actually be good for you. And isn't that so much better than a kale smoothie?

Here's the gist: when you get scared, your body releases adrenaline and other stress hormones. Your heart races, your blood pressure spikes, and your brain kicks into its best Gandalf impression and yells, "Run, you fools!" But once the spooky situation ends and you realize you're not in any real danger, your body hits the brakes. And that rush of relief? It's like your body saying, "We survived! Let's celebrate with some feel-good endorphins!" And then you want to do the whole thing all over again.

They say, "Whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger." And while I might take some issue with that proverb – because Christmas shopping at the mall doesn't kill me, it only makes me wish I was dead – in this case, what doesn't kill you might actually help you to live longer. Unlike chronic stress, which keeps your inflammation levels sky-high all the time , short bursts of fear seem to reset your system. It's basically like hitting CTRL-ALT-DELETE on your immune response gizmos.

The haunted house effect isn't just limited to fake ghosts and gory props. It's similar to what happens when you jump into a freezing lake or take a cold shower. Except instead of screaming "Holy crap, it's cold!" you're screaming "Holy crap, a zombie!" Either way, you get a shock. And that triggers a stress response, followed by a wave of endorphins that leave you feeling, weirdly enough, pretty great. Who knew being miserable for five seconds could have such perks?

***If only my ex-girlfriends would have understood that. The researchers sucked all the fun out of the study by writing it out in scientifically nerdy words, saying "fear may be associated with the peak and subsequent resolution of inflammation." ***Now that's a tagline to use for your horror movie posters. The translation of that would be: "While anxiety likes to linger and make a mess, fear shows up, does its thing and leaves your body in better shape than it found it." Extreme Makeover: Goosebumps Edition!

The study also suggests that fear could teach us more about the adrenergic system, which is a fancy term for that part of your body that handles stress responses. Figuring out how short bursts of fear affect and decrease inflammation could lead to new ways to manage stress and improve overall health. And who wouldn't want a doctor's note that says, "Watch more horror movies for your health." Hey, and that would mean your health insurance would cover the cost of a movie ticket.

Suddenly, you kinda like your healthcare provider. For horror buffs, this is the ultimate justification. See, Mom? Read this study! I needed to spend $30 to buy the Blu-ray of Halloween Part 32: Michael Takes on Geriatrics. It was for my health! Forget meditation apps, just listen to the Weird Darkness podcast instead.

So the next time you're feeling stressed, skip the spa day. Instead, find something that scares the pants off of you, as long as it's safe. Whether it's ghosts, ghouls, or that one coworker who insists on hugging you at the office Christmas party despite obviously just getting over the flu bug, a little fear might be just what the doctor ordered. Take two Amityvilles and call me in the morning.

We all dream, but for some people, what should be a time for their bodies and minds to rest turns into a nightmare from which they cannot escape. Our next Weird Darkness live stream is Saturday night, December 28th on the Weird Darkness YouTube channel. And during the live broadcast, I'll share some of these chilling nighttime stories

Tales of shadow people, sleep paralysis, and demons who stalk their victims in that place between dreams and reality. I'll share true tales of prophetic dreams, some joyful, some not. Sleepwalking incidents that are both amusing and disturbing. I'll also share real stories of night terrors so horrifying that sleep

became something to fear and dread for those victimized by the night. You might not want to sleep after joining our next live stream. It's Saturday, December 28th at 5 p.m. Pacific, 6 p.m. Mountain, 7 p.m. Central, 8 p.m. Eastern. On the lighter side, I'll also be responding to comments and questions live on the air and doing a giveaway of some Weird Darkness merch.

Prepare yourself for our next live scream for chilling tales of what some people must endure in an attempt to get some sleep. Find the details on the live screen page at weirddarkness.com.