Meditating in full consciousness would reduce the severity of chronic pain and its impact on everyday life. This method holds promise for people for whom current therapies are not working.
Meditation is known to provide access to a form of mental well-being, but it would also be effective in reducing physical discomfort, such as chronic pain. Canadian researchers publish their research results in the British Medical Journal. They show that mindfulness meditation can be more effective than cognitive behavioral therapies.
The many benefits of meditation
According to doctor-psychiatrist Christophe André, mindful meditation consists of focusing on the present moment: our breathing, our thoughts, our bodily sensations, smells, noises, etc. It is a posture of contemplation, where one does not judge. For several years, studies have focused on the benefits of this technique. It would be able to reduce anxiety and heart rate, soothe infertile women and even facilitate weight loss.
musculoskeletal pain
In this new study, Canadian researchers built on 21 previous research on mindfulness meditation and cognitive behavioral therapies. This allowed them to gather data from nearly 2,000 patients. The majority of them were women between the ages of 35 and 65 and suffered from musculoskeletal pain.
Scientists have found that the effects of mindfulness meditation are similar to those of cognitive behavioral therapies. These two methods reduce the intensity of pain and depressive symptoms. For the researchers, this could be an effective alternative for patients who find no benefit from cognitive-behavioral therapies. In France, 12 million people suffer from chronic pain, and most of them do not receive appropriate treatment.
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