Image of MRI ScanMeditation has been practised in India time immemorial by the saints. Now is is a research subject in the western countries. Researchers say it can produce pain relief even comparable to opium derived analgesics.
This meditation is not difficult. It is a form of concentration exercise. Mind is concentrated on inspiration and expiration that normally takes place during respiration without any distraction. A short of concentration on breathing.
The researchers recruited 15 healthy volunteers who had never meditated attended four, 20-minute classes to learn a meditation. Both before and after meditation training, study participants' brain activity was examined using a special type of imaging -- arterial spin labeling magnetic resonance imaging (ASL MRI) -- that captures longer duration brain processes. A pain-inducing heat device was placed on the participants' right legs and heated a small area of their skin to 120° Fahrenheit, that most people find painful, over a 5-minute period.
The scans taken after meditation training showed that every participant's pain ratings were reduced, with decreases ranging from 11 to 93 percent. It was seen that meditation significantly reduced activity in the part of brain that perceive pain sensation.
Brain activity was increased in certain areas of brain responsible for pain processing, the more these areas were activated by meditation the more the pain was reduced.
One of the reasons that meditation may have been so effective in blocking pain was that it did not work at just one place in the brain, but instead reduced pain at multiple levels of processing.
Thus mediation not only reduces pain but has more health benefits including controlling anger, promoting good general health, reducing stress and related diseases too.
This meditation is not difficult. It is a form of concentration exercise. Mind is concentrated on inspiration and expiration that normally takes place during respiration without any distraction. A short of concentration on breathing.
The researchers recruited 15 healthy volunteers who had never meditated attended four, 20-minute classes to learn a meditation. Both before and after meditation training, study participants' brain activity was examined using a special type of imaging -- arterial spin labeling magnetic resonance imaging (ASL MRI) -- that captures longer duration brain processes. A pain-inducing heat device was placed on the participants' right legs and heated a small area of their skin to 120° Fahrenheit, that most people find painful, over a 5-minute period.
The scans taken after meditation training showed that every participant's pain ratings were reduced, with decreases ranging from 11 to 93 percent. It was seen that meditation significantly reduced activity in the part of brain that perceive pain sensation.
Brain activity was increased in certain areas of brain responsible for pain processing, the more these areas were activated by meditation the more the pain was reduced.
One of the reasons that meditation may have been so effective in blocking pain was that it did not work at just one place in the brain, but instead reduced pain at multiple levels of processing.
Thus mediation not only reduces pain but has more health benefits including controlling anger, promoting good general health, reducing stress and related diseases too.
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