The anaesthetic power of TV

Thursday, August 17th, 2006

It’s official – watching television can numb you. Italian researchers have discovered watching TV ‘may act as a natural painkiller for children’. What’s natural about that?

Mothers were no match when it came to comforting their children while blood samples were taken. Not only did watching television reduce levels of pain but it also improved children’s tolerance of the pain they did register.

Of course, the research didn’t cover adults but it’s safe to assume there might be at least some anaesthetising effects on all viewers irrespective of age, although whether that effect might be negated or reversed for some of us when watching rubbish like ITV’s Love Island or Channel 4’s Big Brother, who can say? I know for myself watching daytime TV is nearly always a painful experience and I refuse to believe Trisha (or in the US, the likes of Oprah) could ever help me get past the sound and impact of a dentist’s drill…

You can read the full BBC News report here.

categories: film & video