While July may be Tickle Month, a group of researchers from Germany has discovered the reason we laugh out loud when tickled…and the answer isn't because we think it’s funny.

Scientists at the University of Tuebingen, one of Germany’s most famous and oldest universities, have determined tickling stimulates the section of the brain that anticipates pain.  This explains why your spouse accidentally kicks you when you’re tickling his or her feet! Researchers also revealed laughter is actually a defense mechanism, a signal of submissiveness, dating back to the days of man’s evolution.

Is all laughter the same? Researchers say emphatically, “no.”  Laughter from tickling stimulates the hypothalamus – a part of the brain which controls, among other things, the nervous system and the ‘fight or flight’ reaction.  Laughing at a funny joke does not involve the hypothalamus thus the ‘fight or flight’ reaction is never triggered.   This explains why you can’t tickle yourself…because your brain knows there is no need to fight yourself!