Wildmind Buddhist Meditation - Brain scans show how meditation calms pain

Interesting - more proof for the benefits of meditation.

Brain scans show how meditation calms pain

(June 10, 2010)

People who routinely practice meditation may be better able to deal with pain because their brains are less focused on anticipating pain, a new British study suggests.

The finding is a potential boon to the estimated 40 percent of people who are unable to adequately manage their chronic pain. It is based on an analysis involving people who practice a variety of meditation formats, and experience with meditation as a whole ranged from just a few months to several decades.

Only those individuals who had engaged in a long-term commitment to meditation were found to have gained an advantage with respect to pain relative to non-meditators.

“Meditation is becoming increasingly popular as a way to treat chronic illness such as the pain caused by arthritis,” study author Dr. Christopher Brown, from the University of Manchester’s School of Translational Medicine, said in a university news release.

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Tags: Buddhism, meditation, brain, pain, Wildmind Buddhist Meditation, Brain scans, meditation calms pain, Dr. Christopher Brown