What's the Science of Painkillers?

talking about major surgeries here. Well, yeah, I mean we're talking about surgeries where the patient is still awake and and often feeling some kind of discomfort or pain during that surgery. So the study involved a hundred patients and they were having these minor surgeries, and they had them do three different things. So some of the patients were asked to text, some were playing angry birds, and some

were doing nothing. And they found that of the three groups, those who were texting actually had the least need for additional narcotics, and they also experienced the greatest relief from that pain. But here's what's most weird about it. The effect was most profound when they were texting with a complete stranger really not not like someone you know and

someone who cares about you. Well, actually, I'm sure there's some benefit to that as well, but the greatest benefit was when they were texting with someone they didn't know. And they think it has to do with the type of conversation you'd have with the loved one versus you know, one with somebody that you don't know. So think about it. With a loved one, if you're in a lot more pain, you're you're likely to be talking about what's on your

mind with that or what's bothering you. But with a stranger, you kind of have to put on a happy face and be a little bit more positive and your interaction you want to make a good impression, and that somewhat forced the positive attitude actually help them withstand a higher level of pain, and that's really fascinating. It's also kind of cool to think that your phone's best app is

as a pain killer. That's right, right, And it's a reminder of that pain itself is such a strange thing, and while there are multiple ways to manage certain pain, it feels like most people aren't all that familiar with the differences among some of the major forms of pain relief.

So on today's episode, we're going to focus on the science behind the things like ibuprofen, a seda, menafin, aspirin, as well as some others, and along the way we'll dive into some of the most surprising forms of pain relief. So let's get started. Hey there, podcast listeners, welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good friend man Gesh Ticketer and on the other side of the soundproof glass sorting his meds

into a massive three hundred and sixty five day pill organizers. Unbelievable. That's our friend and producer Tristan McNeil. I mean, I've got to say the sheer level of micromanagement on display here is both kind of inspiring but also a little bit unnerving at the same time, So kudos to you, Tristan. I mean, it's especially interesting because the only pills he actually takes with those lintstones chewable vitamins, which makes that giant phil caddy a little like overkill. Well, Tristan refuses

to take shortcuts. You've gotta respect him for that. And speaking of shortcuts, today we're talking about common pain killers, you know, which have become many people's go to quick fix for everything from headaches to hangovers, and most of us keep at least one of these over the counter medications on standby and the medicine cabinet or next to us. But you know whether that's aspirin or hyboprofin or taile

and all. But despite that ubiquity, a few of us could tell you even the most basic facts about the

pills that we so readily swallow. In fact, according to a two thousand one survey from the National Council on Patient Information and Education, only one third of the public is able to identify the active ingredient in their pain killer of choice, And with over the counter pain relievers accounting for over five billion in sales last year, that's a big chunk of the population that medicates with something

they really don't know that much about. So for today's episode, we're actually gonna shine some light on the little known facts behind a few of the world's most commonly taken, at least understood medications. So we'll try to get an eye idea of where they come from and what they're best suited for, as well as what the future of pain management might look like, alright, ma, go, so where

do you think we should start. So, I mean, this might sound a little basic, but I thought it'd be helpful to start with a quick refresher on what pain really is and how a non prescription painkiller actually works to relieve it. So for the first part of that, pain is really just this early warning system. It's our body's way of letting us know that we're injured or

even though we're doing something that we probably should stop doing. So, for instance, if you put your hand on the hot stove, special nerve receptors in your skin will actually respond to the damage from the heat, and that sensation is then sent as a chemical message to the spinal cord and your brain stem, and from there the message travels to the brain, which is where the sensation is registered and

processed and finally perceived as pain. And that's a helpful description, but it is kind of weird to take a step back and think about it, like it almost makes it sound kind of bureaucratic that like, this pain is this memo that's got to be passed around from office to office, gotta get everybody's approval, and then it finally gets to the big loss upstairs, you know, right, So it obviously takes more time to describe the experience of feeling the

pain that actually does to feel it, which is pretty much instantaneous. But it's still helpful to know the ins and outs of the process because that's ultimately how pain killers work. Like, they interfere with the body's transmissions of pain signals. And this is where the difference between pain killers comes into because each kind targets a different point in the communication chain. So, for example, aspirin and ibuprofen our end sets and that's n S a i D,

which stands for a non steroidal anti inflammatory drugs. These medications cut off the pain signals at the side of the injury. But something like a set of menafin, which is a different kind of pain reliever, works much differently. All right, we'll obviously get to them. Why don't we stick to the end sets for now? So how does one of these run interference on these pain signals? Sure? So, when the nerve receptors in our cells are damaged, they

produce chemicals that perform a variety of functions. Right, Some lower the pain threshold and the injured cells to make sure we get the message others produce inflammation and swelling is a way to cushion the cells from further injury. Alright, so these chemicals must be what the end SAIDs are targeting,

right since they're anti inflammatories. Right, So and and said like, aspirin works by halting the production of the chemicals responsible for the pain and swelling, and the aspirin binds with the enzymes that produce these chemicals, which basically neutralizes the enzymes and prevents the chemicals from being made at all. Oh wow, that's interesting. All right, So the damage that prompted the pain is still there, but but we no longer perceive the pain. Is that what's going on exactly?

So the pain killers don't actually heal injuries, and they don't even kill the pain really, they just kill your awareness of pain by cutting off that signal out the source. That sounds pretty deep. So the pain is still there, we just don't feel the pain. But all right, Well, speaking of the pain awareness, how does an end said nowhere to go? Like, how's it able to pinpoint the part of the body that's injured? So it doesn't really like the aspirin dissolves in the stomach and it's carried

to all parts of the body through the bloodstream. It's just that the damage part is the only place it will actually find pain related enzymes to bind with. Well,

that makes sense. So so what about a sta menaphin Like it it doesn't reduce inflammation, that it must be doing something else, right, Yeah, so that's the amazing thing, right, Like, even though a sida menaphin was discovered in the eighteen hundreds and it served as the active ingredient tilen al since I want to say, in the nineteen fifties, we still really don't know how it works. I mean, just listen to his physicians note that comes with toilen all

bottles quote. Although the analgesic effects of a sida menaphin is well established, the site and mode of action have not been clearly elucidated. And that's stunning. Yeah, so they feel like it's saying this stuff works, but we have no idea how. Yeah, it's so weird. But you know, they do have some theories. So for example, it's possible that a seda menafin works the same way and SAIDs to, but it just isn't effective against the chemicals responsible for inflammation.

And then there's this other theory that a side BeneFin actually affects our sensation of pain by working on the endocannabinoid system, which you know, you might guess is the same system that responds to cannabis or marijuana. So you know, this is according to researchers at Lund Universe City in Sweden, and sentimental fin activates two ion channels in the brain and spinal cord, and these are the two channels that

also respond to cannabinoids. And the weird thing though, is that these ion channels can actually trigger pain and its responses, so it's pretty strange that activating them would actually reduce the pain. But you know, like I said, nobody really knows for sure how these all work. Well, you know, you mentioned that a set of menifit has been around since the eighteen hundreds, So why don't we switch gears and talk a little bit more about the history behind

a few of the common pain killers. Yeah, So, you know, I'm always tempted to start from the beginning and dig into the weird history beyond the topic, but with something like pain relievers, it feels like it might be a tad too ambitious. I mean, pain is something that humans have had to contend with on a daily basis, and at this point we've actually spent millennia like experimenting with different kinds of ways to manage it. It's kind of

a lot to cover, you know. Actually, when I was studying abroaden Tibet, we went to the Kirang Valley, which hadn't had much contact with western civilization, and our professor told us that people used to manage their headaches by putting these pieces of tape on the sides of their heads. In fact, if you give them aspirin or a town all or whatever, it would actually really really affect them.

And it was kind of funny because marijuana actually grew wild in the fields there everywhere, it was all over the place, but no one smoked as pain release. They just used these little strips of tape to manage their pain, and you know, maybe it works. I didn't actually try didn't try some tape. We could easily devote a whole episode to bizarre pain management techniques that people have tried

in the past. You look at everything from like boring holes and people's skulls, the banging gongs, to scare away painful spirits, which I know you still do sometimes. But you know what, those ancient remedies that have the most bearing on pain killers of today, they're actually the botanical ones. So for instance, you know, you look at the ancient Greeks, they they chewed bark and the leaves of willow trees in order to help produce things like fever or relief

pain during childbirth. Ancient Egyptians did something pretty similar with the leaves from myrtle bushes. You look at the Native Americans to actually chewed birch bark as their pain relieving plan of choice, and those all turned out to be pretty great ideas because actually all three of those plants contain high levels of salas like acid, which is the active ingredient, and aspirin, which is awesome, but I always thought the active ingredient aspirin was aspirin, like, it's not

its own thing. If you want to get technical, the active ingredient and aspirin is called a setal salacelic acid or a s A. You know, see that the pain relieving chemical that's most common to all these plants I mentioned also had the unfortunate side effect of wreaking havoc on our digestive systems. So it was a big deal in when this German scientist who was working for Bear Pharmaceutical, he was able to synthesize a less harmful and easier to digest chemical and that was this A S A

that we're talking about. So the Bear company named this new drug aspirin, and it was the first mass produced over the counter pain reliever to come to the market. In fact, the word itself was a trademark term, you know, kind of like tile and all or some of these others for about twenty years. But after that aspirin became a generic word for the A S A based medicine in most markets. Actually still today, Bear holds the trademark in some countries. So what about another end said like ibuprofen.

Is that the actual chemical ingredient or is it just another trademark term that died in went generic. No, Iybroprofen is its own active ingredient, which you'll find in branded versions like advil or motrin. And although the chemicals themselves are different, ibuprofen works pretty similarly to the A S A and aspirin. In fact, the man who discovered ibuprofen. His name was Dr Stewart Adams. He did so while he was looking into how aspirin worked. This was back

in the early nineteen fifties. Adams was working in the research department at a place called Boots Pure Drug Company, and this was in England, and his goal at the time was to find the new way of treating rheumatoid arthritis that wasn't reliant on steroids and all the side effects that come along with those. So, I mean at this time aspirin was already in you. So we've already said it was non steroidal and and it was great for inflammation, Like why didn't Arthuris patients just use that?

Well they did, but they were drawbacks to any pain killer that will be talking about. In the case of aspirin, it usually has to be given in fairly high doses and that of course greatly increases the risk of side effects like allergic reaction or indigestion or in some cases even internal bleeding. So Adams and his team were after an alternative that could be better tolerated if if they were going to be used regularly, and it didn't come easily,

I mean, together with a chemist and a technician. Adams actually tested the potency of more than six hundred chemical compounds over the course of about a ten year period. And I mean you do hear about sort of like a tenure cycle for drugs coming to come about. But like, was it just like trial and error until they figured out this winning compound? Yeah, it was. And I mean a few of the most promising ones were actually tested by the team itself, like something you would never see

happening today. And so was the team just knocking back these experimental pills and like they had no idea what sort of damage would cause. Well, I mean the handful of compounds they tested firsthand were ones that had already passed the toxicity test, but otherwise pretty much I mean. In fact, Dr Adams later revealed that his discovery of ibaprof and was due to him ingesting a promising compound

as a way of dealing with a bad hangover. So apparently, sometime in the early sixties he was scheduled to give this important speech, but the night before he had spent some time at the bar wasn't really feeling up to the task. And here's how he described the event in an interview he said, I was first up to speak, and I had a bit of a headache after a night out with friends, so I took the six hundred milligram dose just to be sure and found it was

very effective. I love that before he was giving this big speech, he was like, let me just try a little bit of this stuff. We've been mixing up one of the ten thousand different things or six hundred different chemical compounds. Yeah, and that the night before that he was just drinking aver Right. It's a good strategy. So, I mean, obviously it sounds insane, and it does also sound like a ringing endorsement for iban proof and as

a hangover cure. But uh, what about some other common pain killers, Like we should probably talk about some of their striends and weaknesses as well. Yeah, I definitely want to, but before we do, let's take a quick break. You're listening to part Time Genius and we're talking about the science behind the world's most common pain killers. All right, Mango.

So obviously we love a bunch of different products under the same category of these non prescription pain relievers, and one of the biggest downside to this is that we tend to use them all interchangeably. So I know you were doing some digging into this so too, So tell me what kind of stuff should we consider when you know choosing which pill we need to pile. So, I mean a great place to start is whether or not you're pain involves any kind of swelling, and if it does,

you should definitely go with an end set. And from there it really comes down to what kind of pain you have and if you're dealing with any other conditions. For example, aspirin works well for headaches and for reducing inflammation and joints, but like you mentioned earlier, it can

be pretty rough on your stomach. Again, it's also an anticoagulant, which is why you can reduce the risk of heart attack or stro can some people, but anybody who's already on blood thinners should steer clear for the same reason. All right, So, so going back to iboprof and what's the deal with that one? So, just like Dr Adams intended, ibuprofen is less irritating to the stomach than aspirin is, but it still offers a lot of the same perks.

And for someone with acid reflux or ulcers, hypoprofen is a good way to go. It's also particularly useful for dealing with pain, for menstrual cramps or arthritis, toothaches, even sprains. You know, sometimes it has better results than aspirin. All right, So what about something like a leave that that's an

inset too, right it is. Yeah, So the active ingredient in that one is called neoproxin, and it's available in doses that are much stronger and longer lasting than those of aspirin and hyperprofen, and that makes it great for

treating inflammation based pain like arthritis or even something like sunburn. However, there are downsides and aproximate strength, and one of them is that it can cause gastro intestinal problems and it can also take a while to kick in, so because it's not fast acting, it's not actually a great choice for quick relief from something like a headache. All right.

So there's some nuanced differences between the different end sets that might make you pick one over another in some cases, but it feels like for the most part, you know, any of them would do the trick for common pains or inflammation. But but that's not really the case with the seta menaphon though, right, Yeah, So a seta menafant is really the odd man out among these common pain killers.

It lacks the anti inflammatory properties of its end said counterparts, but you know, for simple pain relief, a seeda menafin does have a few things going for it. For one thing, it's generally very easy on the stomach, so for people with stomach sensitivities, like a seta menaphin is probably the first thing they reach for when a headache pops up. It's also not an anticoagulant like aspirin is, so it's safer for hemophiliacs or people on bloodending medications as we

talked about, or even for kids. It's interesting that the seeda menaphon is the safer choice in some cases because isn't that the one that's supposed to be really bad for your liver. Yeah, so, taken regularly or to access seta menafin can actually cause some serious damage to deliver.

It's the top cause of acute liver failure in the U S. I didn't realize this before this episode, but you know, a big reason for that is that it's all too easy to overdose on a seat A menafin and their recommended dosage for pain relief and the mountain needed to overdose aren't actually that far apart. So according to the CDC and FDA, between fifty thou to eighty thou people in the US head to the emergency room

each year due to seed a menafin overdose. Wow, so it's just super easy to take too much of it or what? Yeah, it's probably because the seeda menafin isn't confined to just tile at all, like it crops up in over the counter cold and flu remedies, and it's also in prescription pain killers like percocet, so people who don't pay close enough attention to the labels might unknowingly

consume more than the recommended doses. And because the drug can accumulate in your liver and also your bloodstream, even taking slightly too much a seat a menafin over the course a few days can lead to an overdose. It's this phenomena called a staggered overdose, but it can be every bit as deadly. Well, we're talking about a seeda menafin being hard on the liver, so so given that, I'm guessing it's not that helpful when you're trying to

fight something like a hangover, right, oh definitely not. I mean, tons of people are probably popping a couple of tile al after a night of drinking in the hopes of wording off a hangover. But this is one of those mistakes that comes from using pain killers interchangeably, because taking a seedominafin with alcohol, even just a little bit, is actually a terrible idea. Really so so why is that? So? This is a little tricky and Gabe actually walked me

through it. But basically, because the drug is mostly metabolized in the liver, where it's joined with something called glutoth ione, it's then turned into this non toxic compound that can be removed later through urination. However, alcohol is actually known to reduce the livers glutothione levels, and when a seeda menafin is metabolized without it, the drugs turns into this far more toxic substance, and this is actually bad news

for your kidney. So once study showed that taking the recommended dose of a seeda menapin with a small to moderate amount of alcohol can actually increase the risk of kidney disease by a hundred and twenty All right, well, so obviously common pain killers aren't as across the board safe as you know. They're over the counter status might

make you think they are. We talked about insects, you know, their ability to recapoc on your stomach lining and the fact that the regular use of the scene menofin can cause permanent damage to your liver or even your kidneys. And with those risk in mind, I do think it's good to point out that these pain relievers they're not

meant to be long term or daily treatments. In fact, people who regularly take these medications for headaches actually put themselves at risk for something called rebound headaches, which are

caused by the drugs wearing off. Yeah, so I think it's a smart idea to occasionally take stock if you're over the counter drug use, Like if you're taking something that you use daily for the same reason, then you should probably consult your doctor about other treatment options, Like there could be an underlying issue that's just being masked by these pain killers. Yeah, that's good advice for sure. And all right, well, if you don't mind, I kind

of want to switch gears a little bit. You know, we've talked a little bit about the medications that that are not helpful for drinking alcohol. But there's there's actually a recent study that suggests alcohol hall itself is a pretty good way to manage pain, you know, perhaps even better than some of the pain killers we've talked about. Well, I mean, you do sometimes hear about alcohol is a

way to dullar numb pain, especially in country music. And since we've already established that's basically what pain killers do, I guess it does make sense. Of course, if you were to regularly use alcohol for pain management, you've run into similar long term problems as with n sets or a sid menafine. Absolutely, I mean, it's an interesting study and it might be good to know on a pinch, but I've not any medical professional would actually recommend drinking

as a way to treat chronic pain. And I'm pretty sure that we should not go on the record is suggesting that, you know, we're not suggesting that. But tell me what the study said, all right, So, researchers at the University of Greenwich in London, they gathered volunteers for a study on pain and alcohol, and they found that the participants reported to reduce sensitivity to pain with every

drink consumed. And this is actually the interesting part like, the effect was cumulative, So after three drinks for men and two for women, the participants pain thresholds rose from small to moderate lash large. According to the researchers, this pain relieving effect on alcohol on pain intensity is comparable to opioids and actually more powerful than a set of metaphing Wow. So do we know why that's the case?

They really don't know exactly why. I mean, the researchers suggested that the alcohol may block the transmission of pain signals, you know, to the spinal cord, but alcohols anxiety relieving properties could also be a part of this as well. But either way, it's a little dangerous that alcohol is as effective as it is in relieving pain. I mean, swapping chronic pain for alcohol abuse isn't exactly trading up, and that potential to create a whole new problem is

one of the biggest dangers with self medicating. But you know, amazingly, we're not even the only animals to try this. I found a few examples of other species that take their health into their own paws. But before I tell you about that, why don't we take a quick break? Okay, So, what's the drink of choice? For these self medicating animals that you talked about that like, do they stick to beer and wine or do they go straight to the

hard stuff or what's their strategy. So there is a species of monkeys in Uganda that's the leave to self medicated for pain, but they're not hitting up the bar to do it. Instead, they consume massive amounts of tree bark,

which is what humans used to do with willow bark. Right, So, a team of a collegists studied a troop of Colobus monkeys, some of which were infected with a parasite called whipworm, and the team noticed that the infected monkeys spent way less time moving and grooming and even mating than the other monkeys, but they also ate twice as much tree bark as them, even though all the monkeys stuck to

the same feeding schedules. All right, so sick monkeys were purposefully eating more bark than usual, that's what you're saying. But I mean, couldn't the sickness have just made them hungrier? Yeah, I mean it could be a coincidence, but it would have to be a pretty big one. Seven of the nine species of trees and shrubs that the sick monkeys ate from are actually known to have armacological properties, and those are the same plants that local humans actually used

to treat illnesses, including the whipworm illness. All right, so maybe not a complete coincident. It's just weird to think, though, that some animals might knowingly take medicine for their illnesses, though, isn't it. Yeah, And I mean, self medicating monkeys are one thing, right, Like, they aren't that far removed from us in terms of evolution. But there's another team of researchers out at the University of Helsinki that claims to

have found the first evidence of self medicating insects. So here's how an article in Scientific American broke down this discovery. When the biologists exposed to hundreds of for Mica fusca ants to a dangerous fungus, many of the infected insects chose to consume four to six percent hydrogen peroxide solution made available for the experiment. Healthy ants avoided the household chemical, which can quah infections and small doses, but it's otherwise deadly.

The sick ants that partook were less likely to succumb to the grips of the fungus. I mean, I guess it is pretty telling that only the sick ants drank the solution. But what about in the wild. It's pretty different. It's not like hydrogen peroxide is growing on trees or anything. Yeah, I mean that's true, but the confound does grow inside

some plants. So researchers theorized that wild dance infected by the fungus might actually be able to find relief by eating plants that release hydrogen peroxide in order to fight off aphids. That is pretty cool, But you know, actually the animal kingdom isn't just a place for us to watch to like learn how to manage our pain. It's actually a place to go as a source of pain relief in some cases. You know. For instance, I was reading about a new kind of pain killer that's derived

from the toxic venom of a sea snail. So the drug is called and I don't know if I'm pronouncing this correctly. I think it's Zicona tide. But the really standout name belongs to the snail itself. It's called the Magician's comb. That is pretty screat And you know, I'm always curious about this. I know we mentioned it a little yesterday with that viper from Brazil. But how does

toxic venom make for good medicine? Well, this one works actually by blocking calcium channels and the specific nerve cells and that prevents certain pain signals from reaching the brain. As this makes it super useful for treating patients with pain that isn't that easily managed by traditional methods. And we're talking about things people suffering from cancer or AIDS or you know, several types of neurological disorders that they've

seen positive results with this c snail pain killer. But if scientists have their way, this won't be the only venom based pain reliever that's out there. Currently, research is underway to make use of tarantula venom too, and if it's successful, we could be looking at a whole new kind of pain killer no one that can treat severe pain without the risk of addiction, which is super exciting.

And the animal kingdom isn't even the only place to find these kinds of breakthrough is because plants are actually doing their part as well. Both marijuana and salvia are promising candidates for non addictive pain relief, and even the pain delling chemical capsation that's found in chili peppers is on the table as a potential pain killer. Yeah, that's true, and and really there's a greater need for treatments with that kind of potential than there ever has been before.

I was looking at some of the statistics from the Institute of Medicine, and apparently there over a hundred million Americans currently suffering from some form of chronic pain, which amounts to as much as six hundred billion dollars a year in medical bills and lost productivity. And obviously, when dealing with pain that's that severe, these over the counter drugs aren't always going to cut it, and that's why we're currently dealing with things like the opioid crisis in

our country now. So when the best tool for managing high pain levels is highly addictive and debilitating in its own right, I mean, you know, it's time to find a better way. Absolutely, And one of the most promising alternatives I've actually heard about comes from this really unexpected place, Mango, even more unexpected than my magical cone sea snails. Yeah,

even more than magical sea snails. But you know, there's a growing number of hospitals that are out there looking into how virtual reality could be used for pain management, like the clunky headsets like video games and stuff like that.

So clinical researchers have already had success using them to treat panic attacks and other psychosomatic disorders, and now they're actually starting to explore the text applications for eating pain brought on from everything from like joint injuries to even cancer, and so far trials with a pair of the three D goggles have been proven to produce patients experience of

pain by a full twenty cent. Yeah, I mean there's also hope that the technology can be extended to chronic pain sufferers who would typically have to look to those addictive prescription pain killers for relief. That's pretty incredible. I mean, can you imagine if someone who had just had surgery or gotten a car accident, they could just be sent home with like a VR headset instead of you know, like a bottle of percoset or something. That might be a little bit hopeful. But it does sound like this

could really flip the script on pain management definitely. And and VR treatment actually draws from techniques that have already proven medically effective, you know, things like mindfulness and meditation. But you know, most doctors wouldn't prescribe something like meditation because there's a good chance patience won't go home and

follow through with that treatment. And by comparison, pain pills have been a more certain and also more lucrative way to go, but VR, with its promise of fun and escapism, could actually do away with all that certainty, Like patients will be far more likely to actually go home and use it on their own. I mean that kind of makes sense, but I'm curious, like, how exactly does VR

relief pain? Is it just that it calms people down, because you know, if that's the case, it seems like people could just sit there and watch a relaxing video

or something like that. So a major reason why VR is so effective is that the games and environments that generates are actually a great way to distract your brain, and that level of immersion VR provides it actually gives this distinct advantage over I don't know, just watching a nature video on your smartphone, and that's because the experience actually shuts off the neural pathways that typically transfer pain

signals from your peripheral nervous system. It occupies all the brain's attention so that the sensation of pain is lesson significantly. That's really interesting, and I admit I was a little bit skeptical of this, but but it sounds pretty promising. And I do love the idea of overcoming pain, like not through just chemical trickery, but simply giving our brains the freedom to focus on something else. You know, for way too many people, the physical pain they live with

is just all consuming. You know, pain killers, whether they're over the counter or even prescription, they're they're pretty limited in their usefulness because of these side effects and the high risk of addiction that we talked about. So it is pretty hardening to hear about these new approaches like this that make the idea of a pain free future seem a little more attainable. Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more. And you know, learning is another great way

to keep your mind off pain. So what do you say we conduct our own clinical trial using the pain killing power of facts. I mean, I'm gaining for effect up, but I do think we should be clear, like, the health benefits of trivia are not fully proven, So I think the last thing we need is another lawsuit here, Mango, that's right, all right, Well I'll kick us off. So We've talked about a few things that have these surprising abilities to reduce pain, and here's another one to add

to the list. Now. I know it's common wisdom to say that money doesn't really lead to happiness, but you know, there's no denying that our brains love money. In fact, one study out of China show the just holding onto it pretty much works like a drug. And the study participants were asked to put their hands into some really hot water, now not for long, but still very hot water. And just before doing this, some of them had been given a stack of money to handle, and some were

just given blank paper to shuffle through. And sure enough, those who had handled the money had a higher tolerance of pain. That's amazing. Well, you know, since you mentioned hot water, I'm gonna go with the cold water test. And you know, I have always envious the scientists who get to conduct studies like the one we heard about earlier where they were testing to see if swearing actually

reduces pain. And in this study, participants were asked to put their arm in a bucket of ice water and then given certain words say or shout out loud and see how long they could keep their arm in the ice water, and it turns out that those who were swearing were able to keep their arms in for longer. But you know, I was curious as to whether the specific curse words had different effects, and it turns out

they do. Maybe not surprisingly, they found out that the F bomb was much more effective than using the word bum. The word bum. Yeah, I mean, I want to meet these people who scream out the word bum when they're there. All right, So we covered handling money and swearing. I think we're making parents really happy today, So why don't we do one that's a little bit different. And I think we should revisit the meditation thing. And I do

know we talked a little bit about it earlier. But there's this study out of wake Forest that I think was pretty interesting. And if they found that after just a few days of meditation training, you know, where they help participants focus on something soothing instead of their pain, those in the study actually saw a fifty seven percent reduction in what they described as unpleasantness. And they reported that was roughly the equivalent to the effects of morphine.

That's unbelievable. So here's a weird one, and I feel like you'd have to test this to believe it. But apparently if you feel a headache coming on, you can actually eat a bit of green apple or even just smell one to get some of the relief from a migraine. And this was a study from the Research Foundation in Chicago, and the researchers believed it's related to the finding that the green apples smell does in fact reduced muscle contractions in the head and neck, which would reduce that pain

from migraine. You know, I think we should do another study where we test what would happen if you hold a lot of cash, you scream the F bomb, and you sniff an apple at the same time, and see probably feel great. All right? Well, have you ever wondered why we tend to grab our injuries when we get hurt, like, you know, imagine you have an ankle's brain, what's the first thing that you do? You sit down and you grab your ankle. But apparently there's a reason for this.

So when we touch our injuries, it gives our brains a chance to map out these injuries and better pinpoint the location and then more effectively manage the pain. That's fascinating. Okay, Well, I said my most important fact for last, and that's the fact that Kenny Loggins and Dean Pitchford actually wrote the title track for Footloose while under the influence of

pain curs. This is very important. So apparently Loggins had just recently broken a rib while performing, you know, because he likes to leave it all out on the stage, doesn't And Pitchford was dealing with a pretty high fever and up throat, and the two of them would meet up to record, and they only had a few days, so they couldn't let their ailments slow them down. And as Pitchford said, quote, I think it was two or

three days. We kept up this garade of him showing up on his pain killers and me and my pain killers, and us getting the gist of the song. Wow. I mean, can you imagine the magic that may have never happened if they hadn't pushed through and worked on this world changing song Mango. I mean, I may have never had the opportunity to sing that song in my high school show choir. I'll pull out the tape sometime to show you in Tristan, or maybe I'll just leave it at

my parents house. But I'm honestly, I'm not sure I'd be the man I am today without that experience, though, So for that, I'm gonna have to give you today's fact off trophy Mango. And if there was ever a fact in my fact off windstreak, I'm glad that's the one of congratulations. Thank you so much, and thank you guys for listening. If we have forgotten any great facts that you'd like to share with us about pain killers

or pain management, we'd love to hear those from. You can always email us part time Genius at how stuff Works dot com. You can always call our seven fact hotline that's one eight four four pt Genius, or hit us up on Facebook or Twitter. We've loved the great facts that you guys have been sending, the great ideas that you've been sending, so please keep them coming, and

thanks again for listening, Thanks again for listening. Part Time Genius is a production of How Stuff Works and wouldn't be possible without several brilliant people who do the important things we couldn't even begin to understand. Tristan McNeil does the editing thing. Noel Brown made the theme song and does the mixy mixy sound thing. Jerry Rowland does the exact producer thing Gaveluesier is our lead researcher, with support from the Research Army including Austin Thompson, Nolan Brown and

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