Your achy joins and muscles yearn for a small dose of Tylenol which is full of acetaminophen, the active drug that eases the pain. Unfortunately it's also the most commonly overdosed substance and accounts for a large amount of liver failures. Fortunately, it has a second function for when you're feeling especially rejected.
2009 research at the University of Kentucky shows that the power of acetaminophen doesn't alter your mental state, so you're able to drive a car and go to work, but it does dull the pain of social rejection, similar to alcohol. Social rejection can damage a person's health as much as smoking or obesity. And, that hurts.
Apparently, physical pain and social rejection have a common neural process and subjective component that experience distress. That feeling of a lack of purpose or uncertainty in life can actually lead to physical pain. Tylenol manages to block that unease the same way it stops pain, by affecting and blocking that neurological process.
It's not recommended you run out and buy up the drug store's stock of Tylenol for when you're feeling a little down. Too much of the stuff is still harmful and should be used sparingly to treat pain, physical that is.
