Yasmina Kattou, edited by Jean Delterme / Photo credits: Pixabay
modified to
06:59, January 19, 2024
According to a Canadian study, published in the specialist journal “Frontiers in Pain Research”, listening to your favorite music would be as effective as painkillers. In case of pain, your first instinct will no longer be to take a paracetamol, but rather to put on your headphones.
In case of pain, what if you opted for music rather than painkillers? Several scientists have already proven that music has a pain-relieving effect. A new Canadian study, published in the journal Frontiers in Pain Research, also demonstrates that your favorite song is more effective than medication. How is it possible ?
The release of endorphins against pain
The number one thing that gives our brain pleasure is predicting the next part of our favorite song, according to experts. It’s a kind of conditioning. “When we listen to a song that we like, we have all the emotions associated with that song, since if we like it, it is because we listened to it in certain circumstances “, explains Sylvie Choukroun, neuropsychologist and research director at the CNRS.
Listening could therefore bring us back to a particular “mental state”, linked to a memory. But beyond recalling a good time, listening to your favorite music can reduce pain through “the feeling of pleasure and reduction of stress”, which causes a “release of endorphins” and a “dopamine surge”.
And if you want to try it for yourself, the experiment, carried out on 63 guinea pigs, shows that melancholy, even sad, melodies are the most effective in reducing pain.