Common painkiller connected to risky decisions? Study finds surprising connection
Taking over-the-counter pain medications such as Tylenol might make you more prone to risky behavior, new research suggests.
Researchers from The Ohio State University say the more than 600 pain relievers that include acetaminophen as the main ingredient could strip you of anxiety and fuel you with carefree bravery — but this could come at a cost.
The findings highlight the unknown dangers of having painkillers in your system while making everyday decisions that require risk assessment, such as driving. The researchers also raise concerns about the medication and COVID-19, given health officials recommend it to help with symptoms.
A study was published July 30 in the journal Oxford Academic.
“Acetaminophen seems to make people feel less negative emotion when they consider risky activities — they just don’t feel as scared,” study co-author Baldwin Way, an associate professor of psychology at The Ohio State University, said in a news release published Tuesday. “With nearly 25% of the population in the U.S. taking acetaminophen each week, reduced risk perceptions and increased risk-taking could have important effects on society.”
It’s known that many over-the-counter drugs such as those that treat depression and allergies can cause cognitive issues. One Massachusetts pharmacist said these medications block chemicals in the brain responsible for stimulation and activity, “resulting in confusion,” Joanne Doyle Petrongolo told Harvard Medical School in 2014.
A 2018 study showed that ibuprofen and acetaminophen affected people’s sensitivity to painful emotional experiences, with women becoming desensitized and men experiencing more sensitivity than usual, WebMD reported.
What did the study find?
The new research builds on past papers with three double-blind, placebo-controlled studies on 545 healthy college students.
In one experiment, students took 1,000 mg of acetaminophen, the recommended dosage to treat headaches, or a placebo pill. Once the drug settled in, the participants rated activities on a scale of one to seven on how risky they perceived them to be, according to the researchers.
“Results showed that those under the influence of acetaminophen rated activities like bungee jumping, walking home alone at night in an unsafe area of town, starting a new career in your mid-30s, and taking a skydiving class as less risky than those who took the placebo,” the release read.
The other two experiments required participants to inflate a balloon with the click of a button on a computer; the more pumps, the more virtual money they received, the researchers said. Participants could stop at any time and collect the money they earned in a “bank” before the balloon popped.
Turns out those who took acetaminophen pumped their balloons more times than those on placebos, and therefore had more that burst.
“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,” Way said. “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.”
Behaviors demonstrated in this balloon activity have been shown to reflect outside the lab in previous studies, according to the researchers, “including alcohol and drug use, driving without a seatbelt and stealing.”
The team also notes that many hospitalized patients with acetaminophen in their systems often have to make risky decisions on their health “such as whether or not to do an invasive surgery,” which could prove harmful if the drug’s effects really are that strong.
The same thinking goes during the pandemic: “Perhaps someone with mild COVID-19 symptoms may not think it is as risky to leave their house and meet with people if they’re taking acetaminophen,” Way said in the release.
It’s important to note that acetaminophen does not reduce inflammation like ibuprofen does, but rather it blocks the brain from releasing chemicals that cause pain, according to HealthLine. So, experts say there might be some overlap in brain pathways that lead to altered behavior when taking medicines like Tylenol.
“Thus, it is imperative that we understand acetaminophen’s effects on choices made and risks taken,” the researchers wrote in their study. “Risk perception and risk taking are judgments and decisions that can affect many aspects of our lives, and this common, over-the-counter drug may influence this process, unbeknownst to the millions taking the drug.”
This story was originally published September 9, 2020 at 3:03 PM with the headline "Common painkiller connected to risky decisions? Study finds surprising connection."
