London - It may not be much fun for those around you.
But boasting about yourself really does make you feel better, tests have shown.
A study found that it triggered the same sensation of pleasure as food, money or even sex.
Participants in the research were so keen to brag about their achievements that they would rather give up money than their chance to carry on doing so.
The findings applied to boasting not only in person but also on online social networks such as Facebook, according to Harvard University neuroscientists.
The US team used an MRI scanner to monitor brain activity in subjects who were asked to talk first about their own beliefs and thoughts, then those of others.
The results showed that whenever participants talked about themselves there was increased activity in the meso-limbic dopamine system, the area of the brain linked to the feeling of reward in sex, winning money or enjoying a good meal.
In a separate test the Harvard team offered the test subjects small amounts of money if they answered questions about somebody other than themselves, such as US President Barack Obama.
But they regularly opted to relinquish between 17 percent and 25 percent of their potential earnings just to gush about their own lives. - Daily Mail