Something Hurt? Meditate On It

An entire industry seems to have been built around helping women distract themselves from the pain of childbirth.
Yet, new research finds, that the pain of childbirth—as well as the pain of headaches and stomachaches and everything else—might become even more bearable by doing the opposite—focusing on the pain instead.
Researchers at the University of Manchester in the UK used lasers to inflict pain on a group of study subjects and asked them to rate the unpleasantness of the pain. (Note to self: do not look into a career as a study subject.) Everyone in the group should have experienced the same level of pain, but this was not the case. People who meditated regularly reported the pain as less uncomfortable than people who did not.
And their brain response to the pain was different, too. People who did not meditate regularly anticipated the pain before it took place. They mentally braced for it, which made the brain’s pain response more intense. The meditators did not do this. They relaxed into it instead.
I’ve experienced this meditation effect first hand, as I seem to be a pain magnet. I have irritable bowel syndrome, a condition that triggers extreme stomach aches. I also tend to get migraines. (MORE)

Source: The Morning Call