There is no doubt that music can soothe the soul for some， and it turns out that it could also be a temporary soother for physical pain.

Listening to favorite songs could reduce people’s perception of pain， according to a study published in the journal Frontiers in Pain Research. And the most effective pain relievers were found to be sad songs detailing bittersweet and emotional experiences.

The small study invited 63 young adults to bring two of their favorite songs， and the requirement was that they needed to be at least 3 minutes and 20 seconds long. The researchers also had the young adults pick one of seven songs that the team considered relaxing and unfamiliar to the study participants.

Each person underwent 7-minute blocks where they were instructed to stare at a monitor screen while listening to their favorite songs， one of the seven relaxing instrumental songs （each Uuf2RN8zqFckaxcHjtlVZnYau2KPr6Z3nNtfecJ5+vM=of which lasted for 6 minutes and 40 seconds）， or a scrambled version of both songs and the relaxing song chosen. The scrambled music was a jumble of all three songs， cut into fragments and randomly shuffled. All the while， the researchers stuck a hot object—similar to the pain of a boiling hot teacup on your skin—to the participants’ left inner forearms.

眾所周知，音樂(lè)可以撫慰一些人的心靈。事實(shí)證明，它也可以暫時(shí)緩解身體的疼痛。

發(fā)表在《疼痛研究前沿》雜志上的一項(xiàng)研究表明，聽(tīng)喜歡的歌曲可以減少人們對(duì)疼痛的感知。而最有效的止痛藥是描述苦樂(lè)人生和情感經(jīng)歷的悲傷歌曲。

這項(xiàng)小型研究邀請(qǐng)63名年輕人帶來(lái)兩首他們最喜歡的歌曲，而歌曲的時(shí)長(zhǎng)至少要3分20秒。研究人員還準(zhǔn)備了7首他們認(rèn)為令人放松但這些年輕人不熟悉的歌曲，讓他們從中選擇一首。

每人有7分鐘的測(cè)試時(shí)間。在這段時(shí)間里，他們被要求邊盯著顯示器屏幕，邊聆聽(tīng)他們最喜歡的兩首歌曲，以及7首輕松器樂(lè)歌曲中的一首（每首曲子長(zhǎng)6分40秒），或者兩首歌曲和所選輕松歌曲的混合版本（在混合版本中，3首歌被剪輯成片段并隨機(jī)打亂）。與此同時(shí)，研究人員將一個(gè)熱的物體（產(chǎn)生類似于滾燙的茶杯碰在皮膚上的疼痛感）貼在參與者的左前臂內(nèi)側(cè)。

Research found that people were more likely to report feeling less pain when listening to their favorite songs compared with hearing the unfamiliar relaxing song， while the scrambled songs did not reduce pain， which the researchers suggested was evidence of music being more than a distraction from an unpleasant experience.

The researchers found people who listened to bittersweet and moving songs felt less pain than when they listened to songs with calming or cheerful themes. People who listened to bittersweet songs also reported more chills—the thrill and shivers you get from listening to pleasurable music. This sensation was associated with less burning pain they felt in the experiment.

“When people are listening to music they enjoy， by our measurements it can reduce the pain that we’re feeling by 10%，” said Patrick Stroman， a professor of biomedical and molecular sciences at Queen’s University in Kingston， Ontario.

研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，與聽(tīng)不熟悉的輕松歌曲相比，人們?cè)诼?tīng)自己喜歡的歌曲時(shí)更有可能感到更輕的疼痛，而混合歌曲沒(méi)有減輕疼痛。研究人員認(rèn)為這說(shuō)明音樂(lè)起到的作用不僅僅是分散人們對(duì)不愉快經(jīng)歷的注意力。

研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，聽(tīng)苦樂(lè)參半和感人歌曲的人比聽(tīng)平靜或歡快歌曲的人感到的疼痛要輕。那些聽(tīng)苦樂(lè)參半歌曲的人也稱身體有戰(zhàn)栗感，即在聽(tīng)愉快的音樂(lè)時(shí)身體會(huì)顫抖。他們?cè)趯?shí)驗(yàn)中感受到較輕的灼痛感與這種感覺(jué)有關(guān)。

加拿大安大略省金斯頓市女王大學(xué)的生物醫(yī)學(xué)和分子科學(xué)系教授帕特里克·斯特羅曼說(shuō)：“根據(jù)我們的測(cè)評(píng)，當(dāng)人們聽(tīng)自己喜歡的音樂(lè)時(shí)，感受到的疼痛可以減少10%?！?/p>

Word Bank

soothe /su?e/ v. 撫慰

perception /p?'sep?n/ n. 感知

undergo /'?nd?'ɡ??/ v. 經(jīng)歷，經(jīng)受

The building underwent repairs a few years ago.

randomly /'r?nd?mli/ adv. 隨機(jī)地