HACK YOUR BRAIN BRAI FOR FUN

The life of a human behavioural scientist: globetrotting with beautiful strangers, drunken Jenga with movie stars, running with bulls. That’s Jon Levy’s, at least. After a painful childhood lesson in timidity (her name was Natalie), Levy chose to live life as a series of bold social experiments. His new book The 2 AM Principle shares his findings. One key lesson: these three kinds of stimuli unlock the brain’s capacity for fun. SURPRISE: The brain’s reward centre gets more excited when things it likes arrive unpredictably. Levy once threw a girlfriend’s birthday party on his birthday and she’ll never forget it.

ANXIETY: Thanks to stress hormones, we’re at our best outside our comfort zones but not too far. If you’re rounding up buddies for a backpacking trip, a slightly more gruelling hike than you’re used to can be a great bonding experience.

NOVELTY: When the brain encounters something novel, it kicks into a kind of exploratory mode. So take something mundane, like hopping a cab to a bar, and make it something unique: a bike race to get there.