Tickling Can Relieve Stress, Men And Women Have Different Points, Here's The Fact!

Tickling can relieve stress. (photo: doc. university of Auckland.)

JAKARTA - Tickling is an activity that makes many people can't stand it and end up having to laugh. Even the most serious of people give up when tickled.

Now, research has revealed that when it comes to tickling the feet, women are more sensitive than men.

Researchers from the University of Auckland developed a tool called TickleFoot to assess the effects of foot tickling in men and women.

Their findings showed that women were more sensitive near the center of the arch of the foot, while men it was on their toes that they were most likely to trigger laughter.

Previous research has shown that tickling can relieve stress. However, until now little was known about how it affects men and women differently.

To test it, the researchers developed a battery-operated foot tickling device, equipped with tiny brushes designed to hit different parts of the foot.

In their study, published in ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, the researchers, led by Don Samitha Elvitigala, make several points. "We first developed an actuator that can create a tickling sensation along the sole of the foot using a magnetically driven brush," Elvitigala said, as quoted by the DailyMail.

"Then, we conducted two studies to identify the most ticklish locations on the soles of the feet and the stimulation patterns that elicited laughter," he said.

Thirteen participants, seven women, and six men tested a foot tickle device, assessing the degree of tingling they felt in different areas on a seven-point scale.

The results showed that women gave an average score of 5.57, while men gave an average score of 3.83.

Meanwhile, women scored the highest for tingling in the center of the arch, and men around the toes.

Based on the findings, the researchers developed a flexible insole that can fit into any shoe and tickle the user on demand.

“We embedded our actuators into the flexible insole, demonstrating the potential for a wearable tickle insole,” they said.

Previous research has shown that tickling can be used to relieve stress and depression, with a 2019 study even suggesting that tickling can help slow aging.

Researchers from the University of Leeds found that 'ticking' the ear with a small electric current appears to rebalance the autonomic nervous system for those over 55, potentially slowing one of the effects of aging.

In fact, the world's first 'tickling spa' opened in Spain in 2011, where customers can pay 45 euros to tickle their feet with a feather for an hour.

Marlies Oostland, a researcher from University College London, who has previously studied tickling in mice, has praised the new research.

Speaking to New Scientist, he stated that it is very useful to do research like this.

"The brain uses predictive codes, and one of the naturalistic ways to learn about it is to learn things like tickling, because this is one of the very unusual behaviors in which we actively look for surprising events," Oostland said.

"For every other behavior, we try to minimize surprise, because when a shock occurs, it's likely that a predator is trying to kill you," he added.