23rd September 2017 1

Less pain

Less pain is on the list of benefits of meditation. Just ten minutes a day of mindfulness meditation may reduce the need for painkillers by improving pain tolerance and decreasing anxiety levels, according to new research out of Leeds Beckett University. The study included 24 healthy university students who were randomly split into a control group and a meditation group. Participants were asked to put their hand in warm water for two minutes before removing it and placing it into ice water for as long as they could stand.

They then either sat quietly for 10 minutes or meditated before doing it again. Both groups performed similarly the first time around, but the participants in the meditation group saw a decrease in anxiety about pain and a higher pain threshold and pain tolerance on the second go. ‘These results do show that a brief mindfulness meditation intervention can be of benefit in pain relief,’ says Osama Tashani, PhD, Senior Research Fellow in Pain Studies at Leeds Beckett University in Leeds, UK, in a news release. Holding hands with your partner can also help quash pain.