Attention to breath sensations does not engage endogenous opioids to reduce pain.

ABSTRACT: The endogenous opioidergic system is critically involved in the cognitive modulation of pain. Slow-breathing-based techniques are widely used nonpharmacological approaches to reduce pain. Yet, the active mechanisms of actions supporting these practices are poorly characterized. Growing evidence suggest that mindfulness-meditation, a slow-breathing technique practiced by nonreactively attending to breathing sensations, engages multiple unique neural mechanisms that bypass opioidergically mediated descending pathways to reduce pain. However, it is unknown whether endogenous opioids contribute to pain reductions produced by slow breathing. The present double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study examined behavioral pain responses during mindfulness-meditation (n = 19), sham-mindfulness me

SUBMITTER: Wells RE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7483215 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature