[Image: Picryl]
One of the most common pain-relief drugs has been found to potentially do more than just take the edge off your headache.
A US study has found that Acetaminophen, better known as paracetamol in South Africa, may increase risk-taking, according to a study that measured changes in people’s behavior when under the influence of the common over-the-counter medication.
The findings add to a growing body of research suggesting that acetaminophen’s effects on pain reduction also extend to various psychological processes, lowering people’s receptivity to hurt feelings, experiencing reduced empathy, and even blunting cognitive functions.
Neuroscientist Baldwin Way from The Ohio State University explained, “Acetaminophen seems to make people feel less negative emotion when they consider risky activities – they just don’t feel as scared.”
Reduced risk perceptions and increased risk-taking could have important effects on society.”
The effects of the common pain medication also extend to some interesting psychological processes, such as lowering people’s “receptivity to hurt feelings, experiencing reduced empathy, and even blunting cognitive functions”.
In experiments with over 500 university students, Way and his team tested how a 1,000 mg dose of acetaminophen (the recommended maximum for adults) affected risk-taking behavior, compared to a placebo. Participants inflated a virtual balloon to earn imaginary money, with the risk of bursting it and losing the money.
The results showed that those who took acetaminophen were significantly more willing to take risks, inflating and bursting the balloon more than the placebo group.
“For those who are on acetaminophen, as the balloon gets bigger, we believe they have less anxiety and less negative emotion about how big the balloon is getting and the possibility of it bursting.”
In addition to the balloon simulation, participants in the study also filled out surveys rating the level of risk they perceived in various hypothetical scenarios, such as betting a day’s income on a sporting event, bungee jumping off a tall bridge, or driving a car without a seatbelt.
Based on an “average of results across the various tests”, the research team concluded that there is “a significant relationship” between taking acetaminophen and choosing more risk, even if the resulting effect appears slight.
We love using studies to explain our peculiarities, but picking on paracetamol like this seems like a bit of a stretch. A package of Doritos probably has a greater impact on you.
[Source: Sciencealert]
