A recent study conducted by researchers from McGill University based in Montreal has found that listening to one’s favourite music could have a pain-relieving effect as potent as commercial painkillers. The study’s co-author, Darius Valevicius uncovered from attempts to alleviate pain in over 50 subjects, that listening to music a person finds most pleasurable led to pain being reduced by at least 1 point on a 10-point scale. That effect, Valevicius noted, was at least as potent as a commercial pain medication such as ibuprofen, under the same circumstances.
In the study, he and his colleagues sought to measure how “moving” a song could affect pain levels. That “moving” music may be more potent is linked to how many chills such songs elicit in listeners – sudden emotions or concentration reflected in goosebumps, tingling, or shivers. Music was also personalised to each patient’s preferences in pleasantness as well as emotional arousal, and a strong correlation was found between the music’s pleasantness and pain unpleasantness.
The authors claim zero connection exists between music pleasantness and pain intensity, implying two mechanisms at play – chills and pleasantness. Chills may have a sensory-gating effect that blocks volcanic pain signals, while pleasantness affects the mental and emotional value of pain without influencing sensations, operating at a cognitive-emotional level and involving the brain’s prefrontal cells.
The research sought to look into pain relief specifically, exposing the participants’ arms to heat that was as uncomfortable as possible. Some of these participants listened to their two favourite songs, while others sat in silence, scrambled sound, or relaxed music settings. It found that moving music, in particular, could minimise pain intensity, as well as pain unpleasantness
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