TV series make us feel good

That's why TV series make us feel good

The emotions transmitted by dramatic films and TV series would activate the centres of endorphins, molecules of well-being that raise the pain threshold.

Watching exciting films or TV series stimulates pleasure centres, raises the threshold of pain and promotes social cohesion. That's why we would cut an arm in order not to miss a single episode of our favorite series. According to research published by the Royal Society Open Science, highly emotional TV series such as Game of Thrones stimulate nervous centers that release endorphins, well-being hormones. The same cannot be said if videos with a lower emotional impact are watched.

Endorphins released by the Central Nervous System are proteins that act as natural analgesics. Psychologists and behavioural biologists agree that these proteins also have to do with nerve centres that control physical and psychological pain. The nerve centres themselves would be involved in the social cohesion activities of anthropoid primates and humans. There is also evidence that social activities such as laughter, singing and dance stimulate the release centres of endorphins and thus stimulate the sense of community.

In order to explain our attachment to TV series, scientists have therefore formulated the hypothesis that the emotions transmitted by tear-jerking films activate the centres of endorphins. In this way, they submitted to a group of 169 volunteers a very dramatic 90-minute film that told the story of a disabled child victim of abuse. Another group of 68 volunteers looked at documentaries considered to have a lower emotional impact.

But it is impossible to measure directly the release of endorphins. For this reason, researchers examined an indirect indicator: the change in the pain threshold. Before and after the vision, therefore, the volunteers were subjected to a test called wall-sit, during which they had to maintain as long as possible an uncomfortable position, sitting on a nonexistent chair and resting with their back against the wall. Both groups also responded to questionnaires to provide emotional feedback on the effect of the videos viewed.

As a result, those who watched the tearjerking film endured 13.1 per cent longer after the film had been seen. While those who watched the documentaries held the position with a time that was 4.6 per cent shorter. The questionnaires then showed that those who watched the dramatic film showed greater sympathy with their colleagues than the group that watched the documentaries.

Whoever has the greatest emotional response also increases the pain resistance threshold and thus increases the release of endorphins,"said Robin Dunbar of Oxford University, one of the authors of the study. This does not mean that endorphins are the only reason why dramas make us feel good, because there are so many other aspects to consider in human psychology. However, for Dunbar and colleagues this is an important part of our inexhaustible desire for cinema.