Practicing Mindfulness Meditation Is Proven to Relieve Pain, Study Finds

Mindfulness is known to be beneficial for the body and brain, and new research is further proving the advantages of this mental health practice. Neuroscientists at the University of California’s San Diego School of Medicine recently examined how mindfulness meditation can relieve pain. The results from their study, published this month, showed that practicing mindfulness allowed individuals to interrupt the communication in the brain that typically exists between the areas of pain sensation and sense of self. Though pain sensations still occurred, the suffering felt was reduced. “You train yourself to experience thoughts and sensations without attaching your ego or sense of self to them,” said senior author Fadel Zeidan. He explained that for those who struggle with chronic pain, what affects them most is not the actual pain “but the mental suffering and frustration that comes along with it.” For people seeking non-pharmacological or non-opioid treatments for pain, mindfulness meditation may be an answer. The research demonstrated that one does not have to be an expert at meditating to experience these “analgesic effects” — it’s free and can be practiced anywhere. Learn more about practicing mindfulness here.

Read the Study