A PICTURE OF a loved one may be just as effective at numbing pain as a paracetamol tablet according to new research.
A study by Stanford University in the US found direct evidence that the emotional attachment you feel towards someone can help to relieve pain to the same degree as paracetamol or drugs such as cocaine.
The university’s neuroscience and pain laboratory carried out the research.
They examined the brains of students who were subjected to MRI scans as they looked at pictures of their partners while varying degrees of heat pain were applied to their skin.
The results showed that on average pain was reduced by between 36 and 44 per cent with intense discomfort eased up by 13 per cent.
Sean Mackey, a senior author of the study said:
When people are in this passionate, all-consuming phase of love, there are significant alterations in their mood that are impacting their experience of pain.
