What is Gargalesis?
You may remember being tickled as a kid on some part of your body where you laughed so hard it hurt. You may also have begged your tickler to stop in between gasps. This kind of tickling that almost borders on pain is called gargalesis. In general there are two types of tickling, knismesis and gargalesis. Knismesis refers to a light tickling sensation caused by soft stimulation to an area of the body in people as well as many other animals. For example running your fingers down the back of a person’s neck would be a form of knismesis that could be very relaxing or entrancing for some or make others shiver. Knismesis also can be a creepy crawly feeling such as when you have a small insect tickling your arm. In contrast gargalesis is the result of heavy stimulation usually to specific parts of one’s body, commonly the underarm area, feet or stomach. This king of tickling involves poking the part of the body or rapidly stimulating the area with one or more fingers with a relative amount o
