Zen meditation reduces sensitivity to pain

TORONTO - Zen meditation can help people reduce their sensitivity to pain by thickening their brain, says a new study.

Montreal University (M-U) researchers made the discovery by comparing the grey matter thickness of Zen meditators and non-meditators.

They found evidence that practicing the centuries-old discipline of Zen can reinforce a central brain region (anterior cingulate) that regulates pain.

“Through training, Zen meditators appear to thicken certain areas of their cortex and this appears to underlie their lower sensitivity to pain,” says Joshua A. Grant, a doctoral student at M-U in physiology.

“We found a relationship between cortical thickness and pain sensitivity, which supports our previous study on how Zen meditation regulates pain,” added Grant.

For the study, scientists recruited meditators and non-meditators, who in addition had never practiced yoga, experienced chronic pain, neurological or psychological illness.

Grant and his team, under the direction of Pierre Rainville of the M-U, measured thermal pain sensitivity by applying a heated plate to the calf of participants and followed by brain scanning of subjects with structural magnetic resonance imaging.

According to Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) results, central brain regions that regulate emotion and pain were significantly thicker in meditators compared to non-meditators.

“The often painful posture associated with Zen meditation may lead to thicker cortex and lower pain sensitivity,” says Grant, according to an M-U statement.

He noted that meditative practices could be helpful in general for pain management, for preventing normal age-related grey matter reductions or potentially for any condition where the grey matter is compromised such as stroke.

The findings were published in a special issue of the American Psychological Association journal, Emotion.