• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
New study suggests common painkiller could lead people to be 'more reckless'

Home> News> Health

Published 15:46 12 Jan 2025 GMT

New study suggests common painkiller could lead people to be 'more reckless'

It's important to know you aren't as invincible as you might think

Gerrard Kaonga

Gerrard Kaonga

Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Image

Topics: Drugs, Health, Science, Psychology

Gerrard Kaonga
Gerrard Kaonga

Gerrard is a Journalist at UNILAD and has dived headfirst into covering everything from breaking global stories to trending entertainment news. He has a bachelors in English Literature from Brunel University and has written across a number of different national and international publications. Most notably the Financial Times, Daily Express, Evening Standard and Newsweek.

Advert

Advert

Advert

People may be more open to taking risks after their bodies have been dulled to pain, according to new research.

Thanks to modern medicine, many of us have access to fast-acting pain relief, which can be an absolute lifesaver when dealing with just about all ailments.

From an annoying tooth ache to a sprained ankle, being able to dull the pain can be great in the short term.

Advert

However, scientists believe that this dulling of pain can have a similar effect on emotions and decision-making.

Psychologists from the University of Guelph in Canada conducted a study and found paracetamol reduces the heart rate, an indication of fear, during an dangerous experience.

Paracetmol might also be impacting a person's relationship with danger (Getty Stock Image)
Paracetmol might also be impacting a person's relationship with danger (Getty Stock Image)

Researchers said: “This could have important implications for safety: if individuals on paracetamol behave less cautiously in threatening situations, they might be more likely to speed or make other unsafe choices while driving.

Advert

“It may be the drug operates by blunting emotional evaluations of painful sensations.

“At the same time, the same mechanism may dull other emotions, including fear.”

For the experiment, the scientists took around 260 men and women and gave them either 1,000 mg of the drug or placebo before taking part in a frightening virtual reality plank walk at extreme heights.

Falling off the plank led to an 80-storey fall from a skyscraper roof. The goal was to walk along the plank as far as possible before returning.

Advert

The plank became progressively more unsteady the further the people walked. If they fell, they hit the ground with a flash of white light.

So while the participants aren’t in any actual danger, it is still a somewhat fearful situation to find yourself in.

The experiment showed significant differences in those that took the drug and those that took the placebo (Getty Stock Image)
The experiment showed significant differences in those that took the drug and those that took the placebo (Getty Stock Image)

Significant differences were found between the two groups. Those on acetaminophen or paracetamol took 17 per cent less time to step onto the plank for the first time, walked 23 per cent faster when they were on it, and had a 14 per cent lower increase in heart rate, compared to those on placebo.

Advert

Unfortunately, the drug’s precise mechanisms of action to reduce pain are still not fully understood meaning more research is necessary.

But the researchers are confident that pain has both a sensory and emotional component meaning the emotional element has a significant impact on how we perceive pain. In some instances, those that have had certain regions of their brain damaged their attitude towards pain has shifted, even if they can feel it.

Choose your content:

8 mins ago
22 mins ago
an hour ago
  • 8 mins ago

    Singer Dawn Richard details horrifying alleged threat from Diddy after witnessing 'skillet attack' on Cassie

    Dawn Richard was signed to Sean 'Diddy' Combs' Bad Boy Records alongside Cassie Ventura

    News
  • 22 mins ago

    Heartbreaking footage shows two orcas left trapped in enclosure in abandoned marine park months after closing

    Wikie and Keijo have been kept at the abandoned Marineland Antibes despite its closure in January

    News
  • an hour ago

    Infamous death row inmate had chilling final words for victims' families before mentioning Trump in 'confusing' statement

    Glen Rogers addressed his victims' families in a harrowing statement before his execution

    News
  • an hour ago

    Elon Musk slammed for response to post 'body-shaming' Taylor Swift after Trump said 'she's no longer hot'

    It's not the first time Musk has brought up Swift either...

    News
  • Common household chemical could be linked to more than 350,000 deaths in terrifying new study
  • Symptoms to look out for as new study suggests anal cancer is on the rise and reveals who's most at risk
  • New research suggests cancer risk can be slashed by taking this one common vitamin
  • Reason why some people are more likely to remember dreams than others