Studies show that acetaminophen makes dangerous moves less dangerous

Acetaminophen helps with your headache, but it may also increase your desire to take risks, new research suggests.

Person who took Acetaminophen Researchers said activities such as “a bungee jumping off a tall bridge” and “speaking about unpopular issues at work conferences” were at a lower risk than those who took placebo. discovered.

The use of drugs has also made people take more risk in experiments where they can get rewards by inflating a virtual balloon on a computer: sometimes they overshoot and the balloon pops out.

“Acetaminophen doesn’t seem to make people feel so negative when they think of dangerous activities,” said Baldwin Wei, a collaborator and collaborator in psychology at Ohio State University. There is no such thing.”

“Since almost 25% of the US population takes acetaminophen weekly, a reduction in risk perception and an increased risk burden can have a significant impact on society.”

In this study, acetaminophen, which is the main component of the analgesic Tylenol, and acetaminophen, which is about 600 other drugs, Psychological impact Most people do not consider when to take.

A previous study by Wei and his colleagues found that acetaminophen was positive. Negative emotionsIt includes hurt feelings, pain for the suffering of others, and even your own joy.

Wei conducted a current study with Alexis Kiveney, a former PhD student at Ohio State University, and Ellen Peters, a former professor at Ohio State University now at the University of Oregon. The study was published online in a journal Social cognitive emotion neuroscience..

In one study, 189 College student I came to the lab and took 1,000 mg of acetaminophen (the recommended dose for headaches) or a similar-looking placebo. After waiting for the drug to take effect, participants rated how dangerous various activities were on a scale of 1-7.

The result is that people under the influence of acetaminophen are at a greater risk than those who bungee jump, go home alone in an unsafe place at night, start a new career in their mid thirties, or risk a skydiving class. It has shown that it has evaluated activities such as low placebo.

The effect of acetaminophen on risk taking was also tested in three separate studies.

Throughout these studies, 545 college students participated in a task developed in 2002. This task is often used by researchers to measure risk-taking behavior. Other researchers have shown that taking more risk for this task predicts dangerous behavior outside the laboratory, including alcohol and drug use, seatbeltless driving and theft.

In a task, participants click a button on their computer to inflate a balloon on their computer screen. Each time they inflate it, they receive virtual money. They can stop and add money to the “bank” at any time and proceed to the next balloon. But there are risks.

“When you’re pumping balloons, the balloons get bigger and bigger on your computer screen, and you’re making more money with each pump,” Wei said.

“But as it grows, you need to make this decision. I’ll keep using the pump to see if I can make more money. If it bursts, with that balloon Do you know that you lose the money you earn?”

The answer for those who took acetaminophen was to continue to use the pump. The results showed that patients taking the drug had more pumps and balloon bursts than those taking the placebo.

“If you don’t like the risk, you can cash out because you don’t want to pump a few times and burst your balloon and lose money if you don’t like the risk,” he said.

“But for those who use acetaminophen, we believe that as balloons get bigger, we have less anxiety and negative feelings about how big they are. balloon It may have exploded. “

The results have various implications for real life, Wei said.

For example, acetaminophen is the CDC’s recommended treatment for early COVID-19 symptoms.

“Perhaps those with mild COVID-19 symptoms may not think it is too dangerous to leave the house and meet people if they are taking acetaminophen,” Way said. ..

Even daily activities like driving present people with certain decisions, including awareness and assessment of the risks that can be altered by the use of painkillers.

“We need more research into the effects of acetaminophen and other over-the-counter drugs on our choices and risks,” he said.