How does music ease burning pain?

2023-11-10 14:56:23

Music accompanies everyday life. Some make you want to be joyful, others are relaxing and others make sometimes cry. According to a very recent Canadian study¹listening to your favorite song would be as effective as Advil in relieving “small” pain…

Music, a painkiller like no other

Numerous studies have shown that music contributes to the general feeling of well-being, and in particular helps reduce painful sensations in certain people. To find out more, Canadian researchers carried out an experiment on 63 people: “They started by heating an area of ​​their left arm to reproduce a sensation similar to that of a hot cup of coffee being held against the skin. During this time, the guinea pigs listened to either two of their favorite music, relaxing music, or silence.“, explain Darius Valevicius, first author of the research from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Scientists were thus able to notice whatSad music or music causing musical shivers was the one that most reduced painful perception. “Shivering could disrupt pain signals that go from the skin to the brain“, Darius Valevicius clarified in the study.

Listening to a song you like helps you feel less pain

“We found that listening to your favorite music reduces pain by about one point on a 10-point scale, which is at least as powerful as an over-the-counter pain reliever like Advil [ibuprofène] under the same conditions », continues the researcher. On the other hand, silence would have only a very slight effect on pain, while listening to a relaxing sound seems to have no benefit. To try to understand how music acts on pain, researchers will deepen their work by studying the roles of dopamine, the nucleus accumbens (region of the brain playing a central role in the reward circuit) and other parts of the brain in these areas.

A therapy without side effects to try by listening to Adèle, Ed Sheeran or France Gall when you have a little boo-boo.

1. Side effects of painkillersInstitut National du Cancer
2. Listening to moving music may reduce pain, study says, The Guardian
3. Emotional responses to favorite and relaxing music predict musi-induced hypoalgesiaFrontiers in Pain Research.

Read also

• How to choose the right headphones?

• Meditation, an alternative to antidepressants

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