Greater deactivation of the posterior cingulate cortex, a brain region associated with processing self-related thoughts, was associated with lower pain and higher trait mindfulness, researchers suggest. (Photo courtesy of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center)

Greater deactivation of the posterior cingulate cortex, a brain region associated with processing self-related thoughts, was associated with lower pain and higher trait mindfulness, researchers suggest. (Photo courtesy of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center)

Why do some people seem to feel less pain than others? Wake Forest School of Medicine researchers suggest that mindfulness may provide the answer.

“Mindfulness is related to being aware of the present moment without too much emotional reaction or judgment,” according to the study’s lead author, Fadel Zeidan, PhD, assistant professor of neurobiology and anatomy at the medical school, part of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, in a media release.

“We now know that some people are more mindful than others, and those people seemingly feel less pain.”

In a recent study, published in the journal PAIN, the researchers analyzed data obtained from a study published in 2015 that compared mindfulness meditation to placebo analgesia.

In a follow-up study, in press and published ahead of print in the same journal, Zeidan sought to determine if dispositional mindfulness—an individual’s innate or natural level of mindfulness—was associated with lower pain sensitivity, and to identify what brain mechanisms were involved.

The study included 76 healthy volunteers who had never meditated before. They first completed the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory, a clinical measurement of mindfulness, to determine their baseline levels. Then, while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging, they were administered painful heat stimulation (120°F).

Whole brain analyses revealed that higher dispositional mindfulness during painful heat was associated with greater deactivation of a brain region called the posterior cingulate cortex, a central neural node of the default mode network. Further, in those that reported higher pain, there was greater activation of this critically important brain region, explains the release, from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

The default mode network extends from the posterior cingulate cortex to the medial prefrontal cortex of the brain. These two brain regions continuously feed information back and forth. This network is associated with processing feelings of self and mind wandering, Zeidan states.

“As soon as you start performing a task, the connection between these two brain regions in the default mode network disengages and the brain allocates information and processes to other neural areas,” he said.

“Default mode deactivates whenever you are performing any kind of task, such as reading or writing. Default mode network is reactivated whenever the individual stops performing a task and reverts to self-related thoughts, feelings, and emotions. The results from our study showed that mindful individuals are seemingly less caught up in the experience of pain, which was associated with lower pain reports,” he adds.

The study provided novel neurobiological information that showed people with higher mindfulness ratings had less activation in the central nodes (posterior cingulate cortex) of the default network and experienced less pain. Those with lower mindfulness ratings had greater activation of this part of the brain and also felt more pain, Zeidan notes.

“Now we have some new ammunition to target this brain region in the development of effective pain therapies. Importantly this work shows that we should consider one’s level of mindfulness when calculating why and how one feels less or more pain,” Zeidan comments.

“Based on our earlier research, we know we can increase mindfulness through relatively short periods of mindfulness meditation training, so this may prove to be an effective way to provide pain relief for the millions of people suffering from chronic pain.”

[Source(s): Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, EurekAlert]