The Chemistry of Chuckles: Inside Nitrous Oxide

This story is no laughing matter.

Well, actually, it is.

If you’ve had serious dental work done or been to a really unforgettable (or maybe disturbingly forgettable) party, you might be familiar with laughing gas, known as nitrous oxide by scientists and oral surgeons.

Whether you’re not personally intimate with its effects or unwilling to fess up about wilder times during your youthful adventures, we’ll clear the air here and discuss the subject as if you really don’t know. Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.

So, what is it about nitrous oxide that evokes the euphoric giggles?

From the Mine

While used by respectable surgeons everywhere today, nitrous oxide was born in a mine and quickly emerged onto the 18th and 19th-century party circuits.

Humphry Davy discovered it in the late 1700s. He was a scientist, a showman and the guy who invented the miner’s safety lamp. Yes, a weird career combination. While studying gaseous behavior for the Pneumatic Institution in England, he inhaled some nitrous to “see what would happen.” Brave (stupidly suicidal?) guy.

After stumbling, laughing, feeling euphoric for a bit, and losing pain sensation, he did the natural thing and started sharing it with his friends at parties. Nitrous remained on the party circuit for decades after, with no one giving medicinal applications a serious thought. Why not just continue to perform agonizing surgeries without using a readily available anesthesia?

No, back to the “how it works” part.

Slow Down Cowboy

Along with other sedatives like Valium, Xanax and even alcohol, if you toss back a few, nitrous oxide raises levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in the brain.

That’s a big word, bordering on the Jeopardy category of “Hard to Pronounce Words You’ll Never Use in Real Life.” So, let’s simplify. GABA is the slow-down chemical in the brain that says, “chill out dude, everything is fine and there’s nothing to worry about.” Ipso facto e. Pluribus unum, you can laugh at all things life tosses your way.

That’s because as GABA levels increase, you experience a decrease in anxiety and fear. That loss of inhibition applies to less lethal, simple nervousness, like appearing foolish in front of other people.

Bottom line? This is why you make shocking life confessions to your dentist.

A Double Dopamine, Neat, Please…

While GABA lowers your inhibitions, a simultaneous increase in dopamine adds a heaping helping of euphoria and giddiness.

Dopamine is the brain’s “do more of whatever you’re doing” chemical. It has to do with reward, motivation, focus, and on the negative side, physical coordination when it’s in short supply.

The bottom line? No inhibitions plus joyous exhilaration equals a crazy time.

Open the Gates

Nitrous also affects NMDA (short for N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptors. Think of these as the gates to high-powered and energetic brain activity. When these gates open, you’re letting out the raging bulls and your brain shifts into high gear.

One function enabled by releasing the hounds has to do with pain reception. So, lock the gates with nitrous oxide, and pain transmission signals are outright blocked, or at least diminished.

Don’t Drive

Needless to say, a dose of nitrous oxide will mess up your sobriety, at least for a short time. It makes one giggle, often for no reason, feel euphoric and result in stumbly, bumbly lack of coordination. However, the real benefit, when administered professionally, is pain suppression. It’s still used today for specific applications like oral surgery.

But it’s not all fun and games. Misuse can result in brain damage and even death due to how it displaces oxygen in the lungs and cardiac events. And of course, the lack of judgment, loss of coordination and dampening of pain has caused deaths from falls and accidents. Long term, it can cause permanent brain and nerve damage, among other things, so leave its use to the medical professionals.