Listening to SLIPKNOT could ease your headache… but scientists say there’s a catch

Whether it’s Adele, Slipknot or the Bee Gees, we all have our favorite type of music.

Now researchers have discovered that listening to our favorite songs can help reduce the feeling of pain.

Canadian scientists recruited 63 people who experienced moderately painful heat on the inside of their forearm – a sensation similar to that of holding a hot teacup against the skin.

They listened to music fragments that lasted about seven minutes.

Compared to control tracks or silence, listening to their favorite music greatly reduced participants’ pain intensity and unpleasantness.

Whether it’s Adele, Slipknot (pictured) or the Bee Gees, we all have our favorite type of music

Canadian scientists recruited 63 people who experienced moderately painful heat on the inside of their forearm – a sensation similar to that of holding a hot teacup against the skin. In the photo: Adèle

However, unfamiliar relaxing songs did not have the same effect.

The researchers also looked at whether musical themes had an impact. To do this, they interviewed participants about their emotional responses to their favorite music and assigned them themes: energetic or energizing, upbeat or upbeat, calming or relaxing, and moving or bittersweet.

Those who experienced moving or bittersweet emotions to their favorite songs experienced even lower pain ratings.

Author Darius Valevicius, from the University of Montreal, said: ‘In our study we show that the favorite music chosen by study participants has a much greater effect on reducing acute thermal pain than unfamiliar, relaxing music.

‘We also found that emotional responses play a very strong role in predicting whether music will have an effect on pain.

‘We found that reports of moving or bittersweet emotional experiences appear to result in lower ratings of pain unpleasantness, which was caused by more intense enjoyment of the music and more musical chills.’

Decreased sensitivity to pain, also called hypoalgesia, can occur when the sensation of pain is blocked before it is recognized by the brain.

The researchers said that while it is not yet fully understood what musical chills are, they appear to point to a neurophysiological process that is effective at blocking pain signals.

In some people, chills may manifest as a tingling sensation, chills, or goosebumps.

The team also pointed out limitations of their study, such as how long participants listened to music samples.

They said that listening to relaxing music for longer periods of time could have stronger effects than the shorter songs the participants listened to.

Mr Valevicius added: ‘Especially when it comes to the emotion themes in favorite music such as moving/bittersweet, we are exploring new dimensions of the psychology of music listening that have not yet been well studied, especially in the context of pain relief.

‘As a result, the data we have is limited, although the preliminary results are reasonably strong.’

The findings were published in the journal Frontiers in Pain Research.