Mindfulness Meditation Offers Real Pain Relief; Not a Placebo

Mindfulness meditation, a centuries-old practice for pain relief, has long been attributed to the placebo effect. However, a recent 2024 study from UC San Diego challenges this notion. Researchers discovered that mindfulness meditation activates distinct neural pathways, separate from those triggered by placebos. By using advanced brain imaging, they found that mindfulness meditation significantly reduced pain intensity and unpleasantness, while simultaneously altering brain activity patterns linked to pain and negative emotions.

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