The Most Common Pain Relief Drug in The World Induces Risky Behaviour, Study Suggests
requerdanos writes:
One of the most consumed drugs in the US - and the most commonly taken analgesic worldwide - could be doing a lot more than simply taking the edge off your headache, new evidence suggests. Acetaminophen, also known as paracetamol and sold widely under the brand names Tylenol and Panadol, also increases risk-taking, according to a new study that measured changes in people's behaviour when under the influence of the common over-the-counter medication.
"Acetaminophen seems to make people feel less negative emotion when they consider risky activities - they just don't feel as scared," says neuroscientist Baldwin Way from The Ohio State University.
[...] participants had to pump up an uninflated balloon on a computer screen, with each single pump earning imaginary money. Their instructions were to earn as much imaginary money as possible by pumping the balloon as much as possible, but to make sure not to pop the balloon, in which case they would lose the money.
The results showed that the students who took acetaminophen engaged in significantly more risk-taking during the exercise, relative to the more cautious and conservative placebo group. On the whole, those on acetaminophen pumped (and burst) their balloons more than the controls. "If you're risk-averse, you may pump a few times and then decide to cash out because you don't want the balloon to burst and lose your money," Way says. "But 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."
Journal Reference:
Alexis Keaveney, Ellen Peters, Baldwin Way. Effects of acetaminophen on risk taking [open], Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsaa108)
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