United States: A drug that US citizens take more frequently than any other is the analgesic, which, apart from dulling the pain of a headache, can help have a lot of other effects.
Acetaminophen, which is commonly referred to as paracetamol and marketed as Tylenol or Panadol, might also increase risk-taking according to one study, as found by a study from 2020 that explored how the behavior of people changed after the administration of a painkiller.
According to Baldwin Way, a neuroscientist from Ohio State University, “Acetaminophen seems to make people feel less negative emotion when they consider risky activities – they just don’t feel as scared,” as sciencealert.com reported.
He added, “With nearly 25 percent of the population in the US taking acetaminophen each week, reduced risk perceptions and increased risk-taking could have important effects on society.”
What more have the findings revealed?
The findings contribute to a list of studies that indicate that also, in the sphere of pain decrease, acetaminophen exerts an impact on several psychological processes, decreasing a tendency to reject painful feelings, making people less empathetic, and dulling their cognitive functions.
Similarly, the research indicates that people’s affective sensitivity to risk and assessment might be changed or compromised in one way or another, given that they consume acetaminophen.
Again, these effects may be minor and thought of as speculative for now, but it is still significant to know about them since acetaminophen is the most popular drug component in the US, including in over 600 different over-the-counter brands and prescription medications.
How was the study conducted?
In a number of studies with access to more than 500 students as the participants, Way, and his team quantify the impact of one thousand milligrams of acetaminophen, the amount that is considered to be the maximum safe single dose for an adult that is the same amount that was given to participants randomly, on the participants’ willingness to take risks and compare it to the impacts of the placebos given to the control group.
In each experiment, the subject had to inflate an un-inflated balloon on the computer monitor [and with] each pump they made, imaginary money would be credited to them, as sciencealert.com reported.
Their instructions were to get as much of the pretend money as they could, which they could do by pumping the balloon as long as they could, but the balloon could not burst if, in the process, they lost the money.
The findings demonstrated that the students who participated in the experiment after intake of acetaminophen were significantly more likely to undergo risk-taking as compared to the more conservative, less risk-taking placebo group.
In general, there is an indication that subjects on acetaminophen inflated (and popped) their balloons at a higher level than the control group.
Way said, “If you’re risk-averse, you may pump a few times and then decide to cash out because you don’t want the balloon to burst and lose your money,” and, “But for those who are on acetaminophen, as the balloon gets bigger, we believe they have less anxiety and less negative emotion about how big the balloon is getting and the possibility of it bursting.”