As we’ve reported previously, clinical pain research in humans is beset by difficulties. In the meantime, there are some alternative methods to ease the hurt, but you’ll need access to a forest and/or someone attractive (or at least images of such).

Johns Hopkins University researchers found that viewing nature scenes reduced the level of pain reported by cancer patients during a fairly excruciating bone marrow biopsy where a long needle is inserted into their pelvis. Patients shown landscape scenes accompanied by natural sounds like birdsong reported less pain during the procedure than the group that was shown pictures of a city, or no scene at all.

Or, if a panoramic landscape is unavailable, you could just fall in love. Stanford scientist John Mackey found that when university students looked at a picture of their significant other, they were able to withstand greater pain than when they were looking at a picture of an attractive acquaintance, or while they were performing a rote mental task.

“Am I going back to my practice and start prescribing one passionate love affair every six months for my pain patients?” Mackey said to Time magazine. “Who knows, maybe.”

Images by Axel-D (forest) and Scented_mirror (couple) via Flickr Creative Commons