Do you like being scared? Scientists in Denmark want volunteers to enter a haunted house to find out why we choose to be terrified.

It is good to be scared, says Marc Malmdorf-Andersen at the Recreational Fear Lab.

Tonight is Halloween. An evening of ghosts and ghouls when many go looking for the thrill of a fright.

Palms sweat, skin prickles, heart quickens. Fear triggers a flood of hormonesChemicals created inside living creatures. They are used to send messages from one part of the body to another. through the body. Adrenaline boosts alertness. Cortisol raises blood pressure, sending blood to muscles with sugar to provide a burst of energy.

For our ancestors, this was a matter of life or death. The whiff of a bear or the twist of a snake instantly prepared the body to run before the brain was even aware of the danger. But is fear good for us if the danger is not real?

Research suggests it is. One study found horror fans managed better during the pandemic.¹ Another showed games involving fear can protect children from anxiety.²

Enjoying fear is a "form of play", says Malmdorf-Andersen. It prepares us for the real world, a safe way to "draft up your own instruction book for worst-case scenarios".

In the haunted house, researchers found a "sweet spot" where fear is followed by relief and feel-good hormones.

The problem is the sweet spot is different for everyone. Too much fear causes stress and lasting damage. Anxiety is the world's biggest mental health problem.³ For some, even a mild scare can cause panic.

And even if there are benefits to mild horror, some are uncomfortable with the idea of Halloween. Reverend J John says it "trivialises bad things" and treats violence as "kids' play".

A horror film or ghost story tricks our amygdalaAn almond-shaped structure in the middle of the brain that is thought to hold some of our oldest instincts, such as the "fight or flight" impulse., the part of the brain that triggers the fear response. The amygdala is sometimes called our "lizard brain" and there is a popular belief that it is older than our "mammalian brain".

But this is not how brains work, say scientists. Our minds are not like a house, with some rooms older than others. They are complex neural webs that have evolved over millions of years.⁴

Fear is ancient but also changing. New things frighten us, like robots and nuclear war. But we also do new things with fear, like using virtual reality to make our worst nightmares come true - just for fun.

Yes: Fear is a safety mechanism to keep us alive. If we never experience fear in play, we will not be ready for real dangers. And pretend horror trains our brains to separate the real from the imaginary.

No: Fear is a horrible emotion. It distorts reality and makes us behave irrationally. It can also be addictive, leading people to go to greater extremes in search of thrills.

Or... All emotions distort reality. Love is a powerful drug, and so is fear. Strong feelings can cause harm and do good. Instead of avoiding intense emotions, we should try to understand them better.