--- title: Tylenol Ingredient May Effect Your Empathy description: A recent study suggests that taking acetaminophen may not only dull your physical pain, but your ability to feel others' pain as well. canonical: https://time.com/4339383/tylenol-impair-ability-empathize/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-18T14:17:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:55:34.770Z article:section: Health og:title: Tylenol Ingredient May Impair Your Ability to Empathize With Others og:description: It may dull your physical and emotional pain og:url: https://time.com/4339383/tylenol-impair-ability-empathize/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30382797300f4b84/69877897f887dc6589e895f2/health-pills-3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: TIME.com stock photos Health Pills og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Tylenol Ingredient May Impair Your Ability to Empathize With Others twitter:description: It may dull your physical and emotional pain twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30382797300f4b84/69877897f887dc6589e895f2/health-pills-3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Tylenol Ingredient May Affect Your Empathy > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=8470049e-9d0f-4edf-a599-eeb9536d215b&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Some Cold Medicines Linked To Cognitive Damage [Watch (HLS stream): Some Cold Medicines Linked To Cognitive Damage](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0vSU0oO5.m3u8) (1:00)  _Published 2016-04-18. A common kind of prescription and over-the-counter medication, including some cold medicines, has been linked to cognitive impairment in older adults, finds a new study published in JAMA Neurology._ by [Chelsey Hamilton / Health.com](https://time.com/author/health-com/) ## Chelsey Hamilton / Health.com Contributor May 18, 2016 2:17 PM UTC  Elizabeth Renstrom for TIME by [Chelsey Hamilton / Health.com](https://time.com/author/health-com/) ## Chelsey Hamilton / Health.com Contributor May 18, 2016 2:17 PM UTC A small recent study suggests that taking acetaminophen may not only dull your physical pain, but your [ability to feel others’ pain](http://scan.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/05/02/scan.nsw057.abstract?sid=68964a56-29d9-4abf-80f3-4767a42e2da5) as well. Acetaminophen, which is the painkiller in Tylenol, is the most common drug ingredient in the U.S, according to the Consumer Healthcare Products Association. The trade group has reported that each week, about 23% of American adults use a [medicine containing acetaminophen](http://www.chpa.org/Acetaminophen.aspx). In the new study, researchers at Ohio State University set out to investigate the med’s impact on empathy. In one experiment, they had 40 college students drink a liquid containing 1,000mg of acetaminophen, while another group of 40 students was given a placebo liquid. The students then read scenarios in which someone suffered some sort of ache—physical or emotional—and were asked to rate the pain those people experienced. The study participants who drank the acetaminophen rated their suffering as significantly lower compared to the students who drank the placebo. **_Health.com_**_:_ [_Natural Cures for Headaches_](http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20789184,00.html?xid=time) In a second experiment, again one group of students was given acetaminophen, and the other, a placebo. Then they were all exposed to short blasts of white noise, and asked to rate the noise on a scale from 1 (not unpleasant) to 10 (extremely unpleasant). Finally, they were asked to imagine how unpleasant those blases of noise would seem to others. Compared to the placebo group, the students who took acetaminophen rated the noise as being less unpleasant, and predicted that the noises would be less unpleasant for others as well. **_Health.com:_** [_Exercise Can Lower Risk of Some Cancers by 20%_](http://news.health.com/2016/05/16/exercise-can-lower-risk-of-some-cancers-by-20/?xid=time) “We don’t know why acetaminophen is having these effects, but it is concerning,” said researcher Baldwin Way, PhD, in a press release. “[Empathy is important](https://news.osu.edu/news/2016/05/10/empathy-reliever/). If you are having an argument with your spouse and you just took acetaminophen, this research suggests you might be less understanding of what you did to hurt your spouse’s feelings.” **_Health.com:_** [_9 Health Mistakes New College Grads Make_](http://www.health.com/mind-body/college-grad-health-mistakes?xid=time) In an earlier study, Way and his co-author Dominik Mischkowski, PhD, found that acetaminophen may have another unexpected side effect: dulling positive emotions, like joy. It’s seems there may be a lot we don’t know about over-the-counter painkillers. Next Mischkowski and Way plan to study another common painkiller, ibuprofen, to see if it’s linked to similar effects. _This_ [_article_](http://www.health.com/mind-body/acetaminophen-can-reduce-empathy?xid=time) _originally appeared on_ [_Health.com_](http://www.health.com) ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4339383/tylenol-impair-ability-empathize/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4339383/tylenol-impair-ability-empathize/"},"headline":"This Tylenol Ingredient May Affect Your Empathy","datePublished":"2016-05-18T14:17:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:55:34.770Z","description":"It may dull your physical and emotional pain","url":"https://time.com/4339383/tylenol-impair-ability-empathize/","keywords":["medicine"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30382797300f4b84/69877897f887dc6589e895f2/health-pills-3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Chelsey Hamilton / Health.com"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30382797300f4b84/69877897f887dc6589e895f2/health-pills-3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIME.com stock photos Health Pills","caption":"TIME.com stock photos Health Pills","creditText":"Elizabeth Renstrom for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/medicine/","name":"medicine"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4339383/tylenol-impair-ability-empathize/","name":"This Tylenol Ingredient May Affect Your Empathy"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Some Cold Medicines Linked To Cognitive Damage","description":"A common kind of prescription and over-the-counter medication, including some cold medicines, has been linked to cognitive impairment in older adults, finds a new study published in JAMA Neurology.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/0vSU0oO5/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-04-18T21:22:26.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0vSU0oO5.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4339383/tylenol-impair-ability-empathize/","duration":"PT1M","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4339383/tylenol-impair-ability-empathize/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```