Transcendental Meditation Reduces The Brain's Reaction To Pain

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Transcendental Meditation Reduces The Brain's Reaction To Pain

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=49320

Twelve healthy long-term meditators who had been practicing

Transcendental Meditation for 30 years showed a 40-50% lower brain

response to pain compared to 12 healthy controls, reported by a

latest NeuroReport journal article, published by Lippincott

& Wilkins (Vol.17 No.12; 21 August 2006:1359-1363). Further, when the

12 controls then learned and practiced Transcendental Meditation for

5 months, their brain responses to pain also decreased by a

comparable 40-50%. http://www.neuroreport.com August issue

Transcendental Meditation could reduce the brain's response to pain

because neuroimaging and autonomic studies indicate that it produces

a physiological state capable of modifying various kinds of pain. In

time it reduces trait anxiety, improves stress reactivity and

decreases distress from acute pain.

According to Orme-, lead author of this research, " Prior

research indicates that Transcendental Meditation creates a more

balanced outlook on life and greater equanimity in reacting to

stress. This study suggests that this is not just an attitudinal

change, but a fundamental change in how the brain functions " .

Pain is part of everyone's experience and 50 million people worldwide

suffer from chronic pain. Transcendental Meditation would have a long

term effect in reducing responses in the affective component of the

pain matrix. Future research could focus on other areas of the pain

matrix and the possible effects of other meditation techniques to

relieve pain.

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Research study supported by a grant from the National Institutes of

Health.

Facts on Pain

According to the American Academy of Pain Medicine, chronic pain

afflicts 50 million people worldwide, and acute pain is the most

common reason people seek medical attention. Stress responses to

untreated pain adversely impact virtually all systems of the body,

especially the cardiovascular, endocrine, respiratory, and immune

systems. The cost of treating pain is estimated at $100 billion each

year in the U.S. alone.

About Transcendental Meditation

Transcendental Meditation, derived from the ancient Vedic tradition

in India, is taught through a standard protocol involving lectures,

personal instruction and group meetings, according to background

information in the article.

About the Authors

1) Orme-, PhD, has been a pioneering researcher on

meditation since 1970. He has over 100 publications on meditation in

a wide variety of fields, including electroencephalography,

psychophysiology, health, intelligence, creativity, drug and prison

rehabilitation, higher states of consciousness, collective

consciousness, quality of life, and conflict resolution. Dr. Orme-

, now retired and lives in Seagrove Florida, was formerly

Chairman of the Psychology Department and Dean of Research at

Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa. 's vita

http://www.truthabouttm.org/truth/Home/AboutOrme-

/index.cfm

2) Zhang-Hee Cho, PhD is the Director of the neuroimaging laboratory

at the University of California at Irvine, where the study was

conducted. Dr. Cho, a physicist by background, is widely recognized

as a leading expert in neuroimaging. He was one of the inventors of

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and is a member of the US National

Academy of Science. Dr. Cho is currently in Korea setting up an MRI

there.

3) Schneider, MD, is Director of the Institute for Natural

Medicine and Prevention, which sponsored the study through an NIH

grant. The Institute is one of nine NIH-supported centers in the

country for studying natural medicine, and the only one with

specialization in minority health. Dr. Schneider has many

publications on the effects of the Transcendental Meditation

technique on improving cardiovascular health in minority elderly.