The throbbing pain in your brain might be the worst part of a nasty hangover. Before you have some hair of the dog, try throwing on your favourite relaxing tunes instead.
Photo by Lisa Brewster.
There’s been a lot of research that suggests music is capable of relieving the pain associated with migraine headaches and other ailments, so Tom Barnes at Mic asked some experts if music could help with the crappy feeling of being hungover. Dr. Alexander Mauskop of the New York Headache Center told Barnes that music it could be as good as popping some medicine:
We have good proof that music works for pain of any kind. There is no reason to think that hangovers would be any different. It’s not as powerful as morphine, but it might be as good as Tylenol.
Furthermore, Dr. Lynn Webster, the former president of the American Academy of Pain Medicine and current VP of Scientific Affairs for PRA Health Sciences, suggests that music can soothe your hangover through mental distraction (as long as it’s relaxing to you):
I would think of a hangover as similar to migraines in the sense that you don’t want anything too sharp, too loud. But if it can distract you, it theoretically is going to offer you some relief. People who really like music or like certain types of music or musicians, if they were in pain and they could get access to that type of music, there would be a memory that they would recruit and impart experience. Both of those would have an additive effect on their ability to displace and drown out the pain loop they’re experiencing.
While there have been no definitive psychological studies conducted on this exact subject, the evidence for music as pain relief is out there. If you’re really feeling your Friday night come Saturday morning, you might as well give it a shot. You can read more about alleviating your hangover with music at the link below.
These Are the Best Songs to Soothe Your Hangover According to Science [Mic via Mental Floss]
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