Sexual Fantasy Reduces Pain

When your next headache hits, take a couple of aspirin and conjure up your favorite sexual fantasy to get rid of the pain. A study by researchers at Johns Hopkins and the University of Wisconsin could revolutionize pain management as it tests the theories about the relationship between pain and mood.

Johns Hopkins Division of Pain Medicine Anesthesiologist Dr. Peter Staats led the study. He says it shows that pain stimuli yield strong negative emotional responses.

By counterbalancing with a strong, positive emotional response -- and what better positive emotion is there than a sexual fantasy? -- the pain should decrease. Staats says volunteers for this study plunged their hand into a tank of ice water until they could no longer tolerate the pain.

He says during a second dip, some were asked to think of their favorite erotic fantasy while others were not. The results show those in the fantasy group were able to keep their hands in the ice water more than twice as long as the others. Where those hands went after the ice water bath is another story altogether.