Why pop a painkiller when beer can do the job

Two pints of beer is more effective pain relief than paracetamol, apparently. Researchers from the University of Greenwich have found that drinking a couple of pints of beer can be a more effective at reducing pain than taking actual painkillers.

In fact, two pints can cut your discomfort by a quarter.

How?

After analyzing 18 studies, researchers found that you can give your body a ‘small elevation of pain threshold’ by elevating your blood alcohol content to around 0.08%.

The researchers found that the more beer people consumed, the less pain they felt.

The findings suggest that alcohol is an effective analgesic that delivers clinically-relevant reductions in ratings of pain intensity, researchers said.

This could explain alcohol misuse in those with persistent pain, despite its potential consequences for long-term health, they said.

Alcohol, they say, is on a similar level to codeine in terms of pain relief.