Meditation Relieves Pain Better Than Morphine

Researchers at Wake Forest conducted a study where participants attended four 20-minute classes on meditation and then were subjected to hot plates on their legs.  Pain reduction for those who learned to meditate ranged from 11 to 93 percent.  Those participants averaged 40 percent reduction in pain intensity and 57 percent reduction in pain unpleasantness.  Researchers reported that this effect was greater than that of morphine administration.

You can read the article here.

Other studies have shown that meditation increases brain mass in the pre-frontal cortex, the part of the brain associated with abstract thought, logic, and emotional regulation (basically the things that make us humans rather than apes).  Meditation is “weight training” for the brain.

A common complaint “my mind is too active” or “I can’t sit still,” which both mean that a meditative practice is even more important.  It can help to settle the mind by first using tools like entrainment, guided imagery, or Neurofeedback.