Ongoing History Daily: In pain? Try loud music.
Loud music is generally considered to be bad for your health, especially your ears, if you partake for too long, too often. But there are a couple of academic studies that suggest that when it comes to pain, loud music might be just the thing you need.
These studies, conducted in the US and China back in 2022, exposed mice to loudish noises (sounds just above background noise), including music. They did this for 20 minutes for three consecutive days. The boffins found that the pain response in these mice was greatly reduced afterwards and lasted for up to two days.
There is a threshold, though. Above a certain volume, there was no further effect on sensations of pain. No one is quite sure why this works, so research is ongoing. Meanwhile, the next time you get some kind of ache, try playing some of your favourite music for at least 20 minutes. Not too loud, though.
