A Little Bit of Mindfulness Meditation Can Reduce a Lot of Pain
by Trent Gilliss, senior editor
MRI images of the brain of a novice meditator show signs of pain nearly disappear. (source: Robert Coghill/Wake Forest University School of Medicine)
“You might not need extensive training [in meditation] to realize pain-relief benefits. Most people don’t have time to spend months in a monastery.”
—Fadel Zeidan, neuroscientist
On the NPR Shots blog, Adam Cole highlights a study at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center showing that even novice meditators are able to curb their pain after a few training sessions. Cole writes:
In the study, a small group of healthy medical students attended four 20-minute training sessions on “mindfulness meditation” — a technique adapted from a Tibetan Buddhist form of meditation called samatha.It’s all about acknowledging and letting go of distraction. …
So how did the researchers gauge the effect? They administered a very distracting bit of pain: A small, thermal stimulator heated to 120 degrees was applied to the back of each volunteer’s right calf. The subjects reported both the intensity and unpleasantness of the pain. If pain were music, intensity would be volume. Unpleasantness would have more of an emotional component, kind of like how much you love or hate a song.
After meditation training, the subjects reported a 40 percent decrease in pain intensity and a 57 percent reduction in pain unpleasantness. And it wasn’t just their perception of pain that changed. Brain activity changed too.
Be sure to read Cole’s article for the details.
(h/t stotheb, via almaswithinalmas)
55 Notes/ Hide
-
bosch-pdo-6 reblogged this from beingblog
-
delonghi-espressomaschine-ec-330 reblogged this from beingblog
-
aeg-kf-7000 reblogged this from beingblog
-
samsung-galaxy-s-ii reblogged this from beingblog
-
canon-eos-7d-meilleur-prix reblogged this from beingblog
-
hundeerziehung-erfolgreich reblogged this from beingblog
-
lexmark-x4650-patronen reblogged this from beingblog
-
lemongrasska likes this
-
class-a-motorhomes reblogged this from beingblog
-
aflfootballimages likes this
-
greenhornlab likes this
-
okayjose reblogged this from beingblog
-
figure-skating reblogged this from beingblog
-
nhmortgagebroker reblogged this from beingblog
-
robcazin reblogged this from beingblog
-
wizenedwalker likes this
-
wizenedwalker reblogged this from beingblog
-
rivervillageperson reblogged this from beingblog
-
mspennylanenwc likes this
-
urbanfoodie likes this
-
beingblog posted this
