Based on a recent study, certain styles of music may help people feel less pain.
The study, which was released earlier this week in the journal Frontiers in Pain Research, demonstrated how a person’s perception of pain can be lowered by listening to their favourite music.
63 young adults in good health were recruited for the study at McGill University‘s Roy Pain Laboratory in Canada. The participants’ left arms were heated with a device that produced a sensation like a hot cup of coffee pressed against their skin.
The participants listened to either two of their favourite songs, relaxing music that was chosen just for them, scrambled music, or silence while the device heated their skin. The study participants were then asked to rate the “intensity and unpleasantness” of the pain while the chosen track was playing.
Researchers found that when listening to their favourite songs, participants rated the pain as less intense than when they listened to silence or random noises.
The study found that the soothing tune that had been chosen for them did not have a comparable, less potent effect.
“Moving” or emotional music, according to Valevicius, might have had “an even stronger effect” on those who participated.
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