MADRID, 25 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Research has shown that music could be a way to reduce the perception of pain in humans without the need for drugs. This decrease in sensitivity to pain, also known as hypoalgesia, explains that it can occur when painful stimuli are interrupted between their point of entry and the moment in which the conscious mind recognizes them as pain, according to their authors published in the journal ‘Frontiers in Pain Research’.
Researchers in Canada have examined what type of music helps dampen the perception of pain. “In our study, we showed that favorite music chosen by study participants has a much greater effect on reducing acute thermal pain than unfamiliar relaxing music,” says Darius Valevicius, a doctoral student at the University of Montreal, Canada. –. “We also found that emotional responses play a very important role in predicting whether music will have an effect on pain.”
To test which type of music was most effective in reducing pain, participants received moderately painful thermal stimuli on the inner side of the forearm, which produced a sensation similar to holding a hot cup of tea against the skin. These stimuli were paired with music clips, each lasting approximately seven minutes.
Compared to control cues or silence, listening to their favorite music significantly reduced the intensity of participants’ pain and discomfort. Unfamiliar calming cues did not have the same effect. “In addition, we used scrambled music, which imitates music in every way except its meaningful structure, so we can conclude that it is probably not just distraction or the presence of a sound stimulus that causes hypoalgesia,” explains Valevicius. .
The researchers also examined whether musical themes could modulate the pain-reducing effects of favorite music. To do this, they interviewed participants about their emotional responses to their favorite music and assigned them themes: energizing/activating, happy/joyful, calming/relaxing, and soulful/sweet. They found that different emotional themes differed in their ability to reduce pain.
“We found that reports of moving or bittersweet emotional experiences seemed to lead to lower ratings of the unpleasantness of the pain, which was due to more intense enjoyment of music and more musical chills,” Valevicius says. Although it is still not well known what musical chills are, they seem to indicate an effective neurophysiological process to block pain signals. In some people, chills may manifest as a tingling sensation, chills, or goosebumps.
The researchers also pointed out limitations of their study, one of which has to do with the length of time participants listened to the musical samples. For example, listening to relaxing music for longer periods of time could have stronger effects than the shorter tracks that participants listened to in this study. Questions that also need to be addressed in future research include whether listening to favorite music is also effective with other non-thermal pain stimuli, such as mechanical stimulation or chronic pain, the researchers said.
“Especially when it comes to the emotional themes of favorite music, such as soulful/bitter-sweet, we are exploring new dimensions of the psychology of music listening that have not been well studied, especially in the context of pain relief. “Consequently, the data we have is limited, although the preliminary results are quite solid,” concludes Valevicius.
2023-10-25 06:12:36
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