Further research is necessary to understand the Christmas spirit, and other potential holiday brain activity, such as Easter, Hanukkah, Eid al-Fitr, and Diwali, according to the authors.

"Although merry and intriguing, these findings should be interpreted with caution," they advised. "Something as magical and complex as the Christmas spirit cannot be fully explained by, or limited to, the mapped brain activity alone."


Dr. Jeffrey Sunshine, vice chairman in the Department of Radiology at University Hospitals Case Medical Center offered caution about the study's significance, however fun a first step it might be, noting to ABC News that, "maybe one day we’ll actually have an ability to use things like functional MRI to continue to link emotions in parts of the brain."

One of the study authors agreed with his caution. “When you finally measure something in a scanner, you have an over-belief that you’ve somehow decoded it,” noted Bryan Haddock, a physicist at Rigshospitalet, noted to The Washington Post.

“It’s a very small step in understanding the Christmas spirit,” he added light-heartedly, “Who knows? Maybe someday there will be a complex machine that can generate the Christmas spirit in people.”

Lighthearted as this study may be, the holidays do deserve some serious study as they are a particularly dangerous time of year for both revelers and grumpy alike. More neurological study might really lead to better ways for both victims and caregivers to manage some of the much-less-amusing surprises Santa can leave during this season.

Stress and depression strike many, for example, during this time of year. These are often revealed by symptoms that include binge spending, unrealistic expectations — and seemingly random and measurably endless raging arguments with family and friends about nothing in particular, according to the Mayo Clinic. These can leave a hangover of financial trouble and social distress long after the season passes.

There are also significant cardiac risks to the season. First reported in a 1978 American Heart Journal study of 24 individuals and known as the "holiday heart syndrome," the condition presents with atrial fibrillation associated with symptoms of palpitations, shortness of breath, chest pain, lightheadedness, stroke and heart failure.

No one is sure about the exact causes, but excessive alcohol and food consumption, including ingesting too much salt, most likely do play a role. Whatever its etiology, however, it is a fact that more fatal heart attacks happen on Dec. 25 than any other day of the year, with Dec. 26 and Jan. 1 being the next highest heart attack days for the year, according to Everyday Health.

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