Study: Watching a sad movie can produce natural painkilling effects

Watching a movie can not only make people feel more bonded with others, but it can also increase viewers' pain tolerance, finds new research out of University of Oxford.

For the experiment, all the subjects were first asked to perform a wall-sit test where they tried to see how long they could sit with their backs against a wall without additional support.

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Then, one group of participants watched "Stuart: A Life Backwards," a movie about a troubled homeless man, while another group was shown less emotional documentaries.

All the participants did the wall-sit test again, and the researchers found that "...those who had watched Stuart could hold the position for an average 13.1% longer. The documentary group held for an average 4.6% shorter time."

Questionnaires before and after the viewings also indicated that "those who had watched the film also felt a greater bond to their fellow viewers compared to the documentary-watching group."

Robin Dunbar, one of the researchers, has attributed the former group's outcome, in part, to a release of endorphins which he thinks may contribute to humans' "enjoyment of fiction."

Need a buddy to watch sad movies with? Try hanging with this cutie!