The Art and Science of Fitness | Demystifying Mindfulness Meditation

This is why a recent study published in a scientific journal. pain,Title free yourself from pain, I noticed. This study appealed to me as well, initially having a long background in competitive running and then working in mentoring others to take up running for life. Pain is often on your side when running or playing sports at a competitive level. Also, some people have more pain than others. Well, pain is a complex subject, but we’ll keep it simple by focusing primarily on this new study and its key takeaways.

The study’s lead author, Gabriel Riegner, is a graduate student in the Department of Anesthesia at the University of California, San Diego, an associate professor of anesthesiology at the university, and director of Brain Mechanisms at the Institute for Pain Health and Mindfulness Fadel. Guided by Zeidan. , along with his colleagues, studied the interactions between different regions of the brain involved in the sensation of pain. They shortlisted 40 pain-free people aged 18 to 65 from their local community who were new to the idea of ​​meditation.

They all knew how to report pain intensity. For this, they used a Visual Analogue Score (VAS) where ‘0’ represents ‘no pain’ and ’10’ represents ‘most unpleasant sensation imaginable’. A thermal probe with a temperature range of 35-49°C was applied to the forearm. They were asked to report on the VAS how much pain they felt after the heat probe was applied to their right calf. With this baseline for each individual, we can assess the change that meditation brings.

Participants were divided into two groups. The first was an group doing mindfulness meditation and the second was a control group listening to the title audiobook. Selborne Natural History and Antiquity, It is known not to improve mood. For both groups, he received four 20-minute sessions on different days.

Mindfulness meditation groups were taught how to do it by experienced mindfulness instructors. They were told to reduce self-referential judgments by acknowledging feelings, emotions. The control group listened to audiobooks in four sessions. For the last 10 minutes of the third session, both groups were exposed to audio recordings of his MRI scanner, and in the fourth session, both groups were placed sideways. I was lying down whether I was up or down. Meditate or listen to audiobooks. The meditation group was not given any instructions to meditate.

During the session, brain activity was measured in both groups. A participant in both groups was positioned in her MRI scanner with a respiratory transducer around her chest and a pulse oximeter on her left index finger. These help monitor breathing and heart rate respectively. Participants then placed their right calf over the heat probe. They were exposed to painful heat stimuli: one at 49°C for 10 s and 35°C for 14 s for 5 min, and the other at 35°C continuously. The meditation group was instructed to meditate throughout the experiment, while the control group was just lying down with their eyes closed. I was asked to rate.

Now is the time to start the fun.

Participants in the mindfulness meditation group reported a 32% reduction in pain intensity and a 33% reduction in pain discomfort. The study revealed changes in brain activity in participants trained in mindfulness meditation and then exposed to a painfully hot temperature of 49°C. Decreased communication between the thalamus, the part of the brain that relays incoming painful information to the rest of the brain, and the part of the brain that is most active when the human mind is wandering all over the place. This reminds me of a psychologist friend who tells me to stop the inner chatter and calm down. Or, as the title of this study puts it, “untangling yourself from the pain.”

Zeidan made an interesting point. “I am really excited to confirm that you don’t have to be a meditation expert to experience these pain relief benefits. This is a very important finding for millions of people.” He continued, “For many people who suffer from chronic pain, it is not the pain itself that affects their quality of life the most. It’s the emotional pain and frustration that comes with it. Their pain becomes part and parcel of who they are as individuals, and this aggravates their suffering.”

Over twenty years ago, my mentor in musculoskeletal medicine, Dr. Roderick MacDonald, then Principal of the London College of Osteopathic Medicine and Director of the British Institute of Musculoskeletal Medicine, reminded me repeatedly: gave me You appreciate and respect that. But we have to move on. It’s something he’s been doing subconsciously since he started running at the age of nine.

When I first came across this study, I immediately spoke with Dr. Anurag Mishra, a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and founder of the Livonics Integrated Learning Research Institute. He said something interesting. “We should avoid glorifying mindfulness. No one knows what it is. , I need a safe place to go when I feel physical or mental pain.While sitting for my MBBS exam,I was very anxious.Before I calm down and go back to my studies,I need a place to go to cricket. A 5- to 15-minute nap has worked for me, and I’m trying to do the same with my excruciating knee pain that you so kindly helped me with. If you don’t have experience, you need to create a process or go to a place where you do it.Breathing happens to be an easy one: take 5 seconds to slowly inhale and 5 seconds to slowly exhale. Repeat for 1 minute first, then 5 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes in the evening.”

Zeidan made similar observations to Macdonald and Mishra, although there may be some differences. “One of the core tenets of mindfulness,” he said, is the principle that you are not your experience. Moreover, even minor exposure to painful stimuli leads to excruciating pain. Zeidan further states: Also, like Mishra, Zeidan focused on breathing. Something McDonald’s instilled in me decades ago and reminds me of every patient I see.

Another thing that works is smiling, or laughing. When you smile or laugh, it may be fake at first, but when other people look at you and smile back or laugh out loud, soon the emotion matches the facial expression. This relieves muscle tension and provides isolation similar to what Dr. Zeidan and team found with mindfulness meditation.

Mishra adds his pearl of wisdom. You need a place to stand where you can strap your boots. Breathing, smiling, etc. give you that place. The key is to keep it simple. “

The basic point is that the fear of pain is often worse than the pain itself. Once you let go of that concept, it’s a game.

Keep mining and smiling.

Dr. Rajat Chauhan is the author of The Pain Handbook. MoveMint Medicine: Journey to Ultimate Health and La Ultra: Reach 5, 11, 22 km in 100 Days

He writes a weekly column for HT Premium readers that analyzes exercise and the science of exercise.

Views expressed are personal