Words really hurt

Sentences like 'just biting ants' or 'trying to endure a bit' we utter to reassure the injured not only do not work but also increase their pain level.

Artwork: hbreviews.com.

According to the Telegraph, scientists at the University of Jena in Germany say that when people tell doctors about pain or injury, words will stimulate brain regions to handle the feeling of pain that people call " pain matrix ".

'It is possible that conversations between people with pain and other individuals will increase the activity of pain matrix in the brain and increase the sense of pain , ' said Maria Richter, a psychologist at Jena University. explain.

Richter and colleagues use magnetic resonance imaging to find out what the human brain processes words related to pain sensations. They asked the volunteers to listen to words like 'pain', 'blow' while conducting brain scans. The results showed that the areas of brain processing pain in the brain were actually activated after the volunteers heard these words.

In another experiment the team asked volunteers to read some words and imagine situations related to that word. For example, volunteers can think of vaccination after reading the word 'needle'. A few seconds later the volunteers read the words again, but this time the experts gave them a joke so they couldn't imagine the situation.

'In both cases we have found that the areas of the brain that sense pain are activated when the subject of hearing hears words related to pain,' Richter said.

Professor Thomas Weiss, who led the study, said that people who had been vaccinated would feel pain every time someone mentioned the word "needle." But he said that reaction could be an instinct to survive because it helps people avoid future trauma.