Patients who listened to music reported lower pain intensity and an 18 percent drop in painkiller reliance compared with those who didn’t, according to a review of 14 studies from the British journal The Cochrane Library. “Pathways that start in the brain release endorphins that inhibit pain transmission, acting like our own personal morphine, and music may activate them,” explains review author M. Soledad Cepeda, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of anesthesiology at Tufts-New England Medical Center, in Boston. The degree of pain relief was equal regardless of music genre, meaning rock and rollers and easy listeners share the same benefit, even if they don’t get to make their own selections in recovery. —K. Emily Bond