Painkillers could reduce your emotional sensitivity, study finds
Tylenol could be numbing a lot more than your headache.
A new study published in Pyschological Science suggests that Tylenol and other over-the-counter acetaminophen products could dull emotional sensitivity.
The study researchers instructed 82 subjects to take a pill. Half of them took acetaminophen, while the other half took a placebo. After an hour, the participants were shown 40 photos, and researchers measured their emotional reactions. The photos included both sad images, such as starving children, and happy ones, including children playing with animals.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The study participants who took acetaminophen had less emotional reactions to both positive and negative photos, describing them as "more neutral and less emotionally intense" than the participants who took the placebo did, Fusion reports. The study's sample size was small, though, so more research is still needed.
"This means that using Tylenol or similar products might have broader consequences than previously thought," Geoffrey Durso, lead author of the study, said in a statement. "Rather than just being a pain reliever, acetaminophen can be seen as an all-purpose emotion reliever."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Meghan DeMaria is a staff writer at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Marie Claire.
-
Can the BBC weather the impartiality storm?Today's Big Question MPs’ questions failed to land any ‘killer blows’ to quell the ‘seismic outrage’ faced by the BBC
-
The age of criminal responsibilityThe Explainer England and Wales ‘substantially out of kilter with the rest of the world’, says filmmaker whose drama tops Netflix charts
-
Spiralism is the new cult AI users are falling intoUnder the radar Technology is taking a turn
-
Blue Origin launches Mars probes in NASA debutSpeed Read The New Glenn rocket is carrying small twin spacecraft toward Mars as part of NASA’s Escapade mission
-
Dinosaurs were thriving before asteroid, study findsSpeed Read The dinosaurs would not have gone extinct if not for the asteroid
-
SpaceX breaks Starship losing streak in 10th testspeed read The Starship rocket's test flight was largely successful, deploying eight dummy satellites during its hour in space
-
Rabbits with 'horns' sighted across Coloradospeed read These creatures are infected with the 'mostly harmless' Shope papilloma virus
-
Lithium shows promise in Alzheimer's studySpeed Read Potential new treatments could use small amounts of the common metal
-
Scientists discover cause of massive sea star die-offSpeed Read A bacteria related to cholera has been found responsible for the deaths of more than 5 billion sea stars
-
'Thriving' ecosystem found 30,000 feet underseaSpeed Read Researchers discovered communities of creatures living in frigid, pitch-black waters under high pressure
-
New York plans first nuclear plant in 36 yearsSpeed Read The plant, to be constructed somewhere in upstate New York, will produce enough energy to power a million homes
