Having your partner present can help reduce feelings of pain, says new study

New European research has found that just having your partner with you could be enough to reduce feelings of pain, even without verbal or physical contact. Carried out by researchers at the University of Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology (UMIT, Hall, Austria) and the University of the Balearic Islands (Palma de Mallorca, Spain) the new small-scale study looked at 48 heterosexual couples, and assessed their sensitivity to pain both when alone and when their partner was passively present, with no talking or physical contact. The findings, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Pain, showed that when partners were present, both male and female participants demonstrated a higher pain threshold and tolerance, as well as lower pain ratings, compared to when partners were absent.