When friends try to convince you emotions are completely separate from your physical health, consider sending a link to this study about moods and how they affect your sensitivity to pain.

Canadian scientists measured the neural activity of 13 patients (via functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)) who were given small but painful electrical shocks while viewing groups of images geared to elicit either a neutral (a book), negative (an angry bear) or positive (water-skiing) response.

No surprise, when exposed to unpleasant images, patients felt pain far more strongly than they did when looking at more pleasant pictures.

These findings backed up similar research conducted two years ago that found music perceived by patients to be pleasant reduced pain levels significantly.

Nature Precedings February 26, 2009 Free Full Text Study

healthfinder.gov November 13, 2009

Insciences.org November 10, 2009