Study Shows Tylenol May Help Fear Of Death And Worrying

Edvard Munch - Der Schrei der Natur - 1893

My mom is always trying to get me to take an aspirin a day to prevent heart issues (of which I don't have, or my doctor would probably be asking me to take the aspirin a day); however, this UBC study seems to say that Tylenol might be the miracle drug.

Tylenol has already been proven to alleviate feelings of social alienation, and now it has been proven to relieve emotional pain rooted in stress and worries based in "existential dread". The study shows that the brain copes with physical and mental pain in similar ways, and so Tylenol addresses psychic pain in the same way that it deals with physical pain.

I know that I personally have difficulties untangling my emotional state and my physical state.  If I have a stomach ache, I feel guilty.  If I'm stressed out, I get a headache.  If I have allergies that affect my eyes, I can become depressed. If I'm hungry, I'm cranky.  The list goes on, and it goes in the other direction as well: if I work out, I'm happy, if I smile, I'm happy, if I... well, there are lots of physical reasons to be happy.  Why are there so many descriptors for discomfort, and the antonym for all of them is simply "happy"?  Because a comfortable, energetic body breeds a happy mind.

I wonder how much of what we studied this year would have been produced if history's philosophers had not been plagued with existential dread.  Alternatively, what else could they have turned their minds to if they were free of the "big picture" worries, and instead, focussed on the problems right in front of them.