You know that feeling when your head hurts like it’s been hit with a hammer the night before, and you feel like the ceiling is spinning like crazy? Admit it, we all do. Hangovers are something that everyone has experienced at least once in their life.
It turns out that instead of taking a painkiller to deal with the massive headache, you can simply pour yourself a pint of beer, and it will do the trick.
Or maybe two, just to be sure.
Medical researchers claim that two pints of beer can be highly effective at relieving pain. Beer could even be a better solution than paracetamol. Their study was led by the University of Greenwich. They have found that drinking alcohol can reduce pain levels by nearly a quarter. Basically, the more beer people drank, the less pain they felt.
The head of the study was Dr. Trevor Thompson, Senior Lecturer in Psychology. Speaking about his discovery, he says:
“We found robust evidence that alcohol is an effective painkiller. Consuming around four units of alcohol – about two pints of beer or medium glasses of wine – resulted in a drop of 24 percent drop in people’s pain ratings”.
A total of 18 different experiments, with more than 400 people exposed to different types of pain, such as cold, heat, and pressure, showed that consuming two pints of beer could reduce the pain by up to 24%.
However, it is not very clear exactly why alcohol has this effect on people. There are some theories though. One of them is that alcohol may affect the same nerve receptors as drugs that blunt the sensation of pain. It may also indirectly decrease pain by lowering anxiety levels.
Dr. Thompson says that although they are not able to make any direct comparisons with drug effects, they can surely say that alcohol may be a reliable pain relief substance.
“Nevertheless, it is clear that alcohol may provide potentially strong pain relief.”
Nonetheless, the doctor warns that the quantity of alcohol needed for long-term pain relief could lead to serious health problems. That’s why the researchers’ future plans are to find a way to extract the key painkiller compounds without the toxic effects that alcohol has.
So next time you have a severe headache, pour yourself a pint of beer or a glass of wine.
But remember – never overuse this pain relief method!
