Study: Meditation Works Better Than Pills For Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is estimated to affect over 76 million people, more than diabetes and heart disease combined, and back pain is our country’s leading cause of disability for people under 45. And though the pharmaceutical industry seems very adept at introducing one new painkiller after another, the pills don’t always help. A new study in the Journal of Neuroscience, however, suggests something else might: meditation. It seems that improving your meditation technique could very well be more effective than painkillers at cutting down on pain, and that could save you hundreds in prescription drug costs.

These magnetic resonance images from a Wake Forest University study published in the journal Neuroscience in April 2011 show how meditating reduced pain unpleasantness by 57 percent and pain intensity ratings by 40 percent when compared to rest. The yellow areas show activity corresponding to pain sensation.