A study reveals that trendy mindfulness meditation could be used as a painkiller.
The practice entails “being present” with one’s thoughts and emotions, typically through the use of breathing methods.
Now that scientists have demonstrated for the first time that it can also heal physical pain, it is believed to make people feel less upset when confronted with emotionally taxing situations.
They enrolled approximately thirty healthy Americans in an eight-week mindfulness program and compared them to a control group.
Before and after the training, participants’ brains were scanned while their limbs were exposed to heat to induce a pain response.
Compared to the control group, those who practiced mindfulness demonstrated decreased activity in regions of the brain responsible for pain.
A separate trial on long-term mindfulness practitioners revealed that their brains underwent physical changes that affected their sense of pain.
Mindfulness could be used instead of opioids or other medicines to treat chronic pain, according to researchers.
Mindfulness is on the rise, notably in the United States, with some research indicating that at least 5.7 million Americans have tried it.
Due to the increase in opioid addiction in the United States, the use of painkillers has come under criticism.
There are also fears of a similar escalating catastrophe in the United Kingdom, where opioid hospitalizations have skyrocketed over the past decade as more Britons turn to painkillers while on NHS waiting lists for procedures such as knee and hip replacements.
Mindfulness is a type of guided meditation in which participants focus on the present moment and their immediate thoughts and emotions.
Generally, it comprises breathing techniques, guided imagery, and other practices to relax the body and mind and aid in stress reduction.
Over time, the practice is supposed to promote mental health by helping people become more aware of the present moment, allowing them to appreciate their surroundings and better comprehend themselves.
In the most recent study conducted by the University of Wisconsin, 28 healthy people participated in a two-month mindfulness course consisting of a weekly two-and-a-half-hour group class, a one-day retreat, and daily home practice for 45 minutes.
It included easy yoga, mindfulness meditation, and body scanning, a technique in which a person pays gradual attention to their body and sensations from head to toe.
The control group consisted of 87 individuals who carried on with their daily activities.
Before and after the eight-week research, scientists scanned the brains of the individuals to identify two regions that are generally activated in reaction to pain.
The researchers gradually increased the warmth of the individuals’ forearms to simulate a painful response.
Researchers observed, as reported in The American Journal of Psychiatry, that participants in mindfulness training had reduced activity in one of the pain regions.
Dr. Joseph Wielgosz, a psychologist at the University of Wisconsin and the study’s lead author, stated, “Our findings support the notion that, for novice practitioners, mindfulness training directly modifies how sensory data from the body are translated into a cerebral response.”
The researchers also analyzed the brains of “experienced” mindfulness practitioners, i.e., those who participate in intense meditation retreats.
These scans demonstrated, according to Dr. Wielgosz, that mindfulness training affected the regions of the brain that determine how we perceive pain.
He stated, “Just as an experienced athlete plays a sport differently than a novice, experienced mindfulness practitioners appear to use their mental “muscles” differently in reaction to discomfort than novice meditators.”
It is believed that one-fifth of Americans have some sort of chronic pain.
The United States is still dealing with the consequences of the opioid crisis that began in the early 2000s.
Overdose deaths are now the greatest cause of death among young Americans, killing more than HIV, gun violence, and automobile accidents combined.
Nearly 71,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2019, according to the Center for Disease Control.
This is an increase from over 59,000 in 2016 and more than quadruple the death rate of a decade ago.
This indicates that drug overdoses are the biggest cause of mortality for Americans under the age of 50.
The National Institute for Care Excellence estimates that 28 million Britons, or almost 40 percent of the population, suffer from chronic pain.
One of the most prevalent causes of chronic pain in the United Kingdom is arthritis, a disorder that causes pain and swelling in the joints and is more prevalent in older people.
In response to growing concerns around the usage of opioids in the United Kingdom and the United States, physicians are searching for alternate pain-management strategies.
In a decade, hospitalizations for opioid overdoses in Britain have increased by 50 percent, according to research released in February.
Researchers from the London School of Economics noted a six-fold rise in the number of patients with numerous underlying health issues who required emergency care for opioid usage, indicating that they may have abused these medications for pain management.
What is awareness?
Mindfulness is a popular kind of meditation in which you concentrate on being acutely aware of your present sensations and emotions.
The practice incorporates breathing techniques, guided imagery, and other techniques to relax the body and mind and aid in stress reduction.
It is frequently promoted as a panacea for enhancing mental health by lowering stress, anxiety, and depression.
In recent years, mindfulness has gained popularity as a means to promote mental and physical health.
It is endorsed by Emma Watson, Davina McCall, Angelina Jolie, and Oprah Winfrey, among others.
