A new study has found that songs by Rihanna, Taylor Swift and other singers give a significant reduction in pain to kids after major surgeries.

The study led by pediatrics at Northwestern Medicine has found music and audio books as a strategy to control post-surgical pain because medication like opioid analgesics that are given to kids after surgery cause breathing problems in them, and it makes the care takers to control the dose, and hence children’s pain is not well-controlled.

Dr Santhanam Suresh, a senior author of the study, explained that audio therapy is an exciting and inexpensive opportunity and should be considered by hospitals as an important strategy to minimise pain in children undergoing major surgery, and doesn’t even have any side effects.

The researchers said that music chosen by kids on their own works better than any other medicine as it distracts the brain to refocus on something else, and it also avoids risky side effects of opioid drugs. The paper is published in Paediatric Surgery.