An important study revealed a “worrying effect” of the world’s most popular pain reliever, as it can do much more than just get rid of headaches.
Acetaminophen, also known as paracetamol and widely sold under the brand names Tylenol and Panadol, also raises the risk, according to a study that measured changes in people’s behavior when under the influence of common over-the-counter drugs.
Neuroscientist Baldwin Way, of Ohio State University, said when the results were published: “Acetaminophen seems to make people feel less negative emotions when they think about risky activities – they don’t feel fear. And with nearly 25% of the population in the US taking acetaminophen Every week, reducing risk perception and increasing risk taking can have important impacts on society.”
The findings add to a growing body of research indicating that acetaminophen’s pain-reducing effects also extend to various psychological processes, impairing people’s tolerance for hurt feelings, causing them to suffer from reduced empathy and even impaired cognitive function.
In the same way, the research indicates that people’s emotional ability to perceive and assess risk can be affected when they take acetaminophen. And while the effects may be minor, they’re definitely worth mentioning, given that acetaminophen is the most common drug ingredient in America, and is found in more than 600 different over-the-counter medications.
In a series of experiments involving more than 500 college students as participants, Way and his team measured how a single dose of acetaminophen (the maximum recommended dose for adults) affected their risk-taking behavior, compared to a placebo that was randomly given to a control group.
The results showed that the students who took acetaminophen engaged in significantly greater risk taking during exercise, compared to the placebo group, which was more cautious and conservative.
Overall, and based on averaged results across the different tests, the team concluded that there was a significant relationship between taking acetaminophen and choosing to take more risks, even if the observed effect was small.
Despite this, they concede that the drug’s apparent effects on risk-taking behavior could also be explained by other types of psychological processes, such as the weakening of anxiety.
As serious as the results are, acetaminophen remains one of the most widely used medications in the world, is considered an essential drug by the World Health Organization, and is recommended by the CDC as the primary medication you are likely to take to relieve symptoms if you think you might have A. COVID”, and social, cognitive and affective neuroscience has informed these findings.