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Apr 10, 2011

"Pain is never permanent." --Teresa of Avila

Meditation More Effective Than Morphine?

Meditation has long been touted as a holistic approach to pain relief. And studies show that long-time meditators can tolerate quite a bit of pain. Now researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have found you don't have to be a lifelong monk to pull it off. Using a special type of brain imaging, researchers saw significant brain changes even in novices who hadn't meditated before. Their conclusion? "A little over an hour of meditation training can dramatically reduce both the experience of pain and pain-related brain activation," said Dr. Fadel Zeiden. While morphine and pain-killers typically reduce pain ratings by 25%, Wake Forest study found a 40% reduction with meditation!