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Watching [sad / sadness] or traumatic movies can sometimes be [just / adjust] what the doctor ordered. A new study [revels / reveals] that watching distressing movies may [boost / boast] our tolerance to pain. Researchers at Oxford University say that movies [what / that] get your emotions going can increase the amount of endorphins released [by / at] the brain. These are our body's natural painkillers - chemicals that make us [feeling / feel] better after physical or psychological pain. Dr Robin Dunbar, a co-author of the study, [explained / explaining] that: "Maybe the emotional distress you get from tragedy [triggers / levers] the endorphin system." He added: "The same areas in the brain that [dealt / deal] with physical pain also handle psychological pain."

Dr Dunbar and his colleagues conducted a [serious / series] of tests to determine the effect that tragic stories have [in / on] us. They invited 169 people to take part [in / on] the experiment. One group watched a traumatic drama about a disabled man [bottling / battling] homelessness, drug addiction and alcoholism. Another group watched a documentary [on / in] the geology and archaeology [for / of] Britain. The results showed that [on / in] average, the pain tolerance of [them / those] who watched the traumatic drama increased by 13.1 per cent. This compared to an average [decrease / decreased] in pain threshold of 4.6 per cent for those who watched the documentary. Dr Dunbar suggested one reason we like watching sad movies is the natural [height / high] from the endorphins.