Tylenol is one of the most popular over-the-counter pain medicines ever made. Many people, particularly older adults, take it at bedtime to help ease aches and pains and help them asleep.
Now, a new study suggests that the medicine may also ease anxieties.
Scientists from the University of British Columbia reported that the active ingredient in Tylenol, acetaminophen, may not only alleviate physical pain, but also help people alleviate worries.
Published in the journal Psychological Science, this study included 120 college students who were taking either 1,000 mg of acetaminophen (the equivalent of two extra-strength Tylenol capsules) or an inactive placebo.
In the experiments, volunteers were asked to write either about their own death or a control experience. They also watched an unsettling film or a film clip with emotionally neutral content.
In these situations, the volunteers who took the placebo demonstrated a negative response to what they were seeing, indicating greater anxiety than the group taking acetaminophen.
A previous study found that Tylenol eases feelings of rejection, suggesting that both physical pain and social rejection are controlled by similar brain regions in the frontal lobe.
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