即使你以前从未尝试过，一个简短的冥想也能帮助你控制疼痛

即使你以前从未尝试过，一个简短的冥想也能帮助你控制疼痛

Mindfulness and meditation have long been associated with positive health benefits. Now, a small new study suggests such benefits can emerge even after just a short period of meditation, - and even if you've never tried it before.

长期以来，正念和冥想一直与积极的健康益处联系在一起。现在，一项小规模的新研究表明，即使你以前从未尝试过，即使在短暂的冥想之后，这些益处也会显现出来。

The study involved 17 people, so we can't make any sweeping generalisations from it, but the volunteer participants coped better with both physical pain and negative emotions when they applied techniques given to them in a short 20-minute mindfulness exercise beforehand.

这项研究涉及17个人，所以我们不能一概而论，但当志愿者们事先进行20分钟的正念练习时，他们能更好地应对身体疼痛和负面情绪。

None of the study participants had practiced meditation before, which isn't often the case with experiments like these. Hence, the results suggest that the brain can quickly get to grips with the state of mind brought on by meditation.

这些研究参与者之前都没有练习过冥想，而这在类似的实验中并不常见。因此，研究结果表明，大脑可以迅速掌握冥想带来的精神状态。

"The findings support the idea that momentary mindful-acceptance regulates emotional intensity by changing initial appraisals of the affective significance of stimuli, which has consequences for clinical treatment of pain and emotion," write the researchers in their published paper.

研究人员在他们发表的论文中写道:“研究结果支持了这样一种观点，即短暂的有意识接受通过改变对刺激的情感意义的最初评价来调节情绪强度，而这种情感意义对疼痛和情绪的临床治疗具有影响。”

In the study, the volunteers were put through two sets of tests: one where something warm or hot was put on their forearm, and one where they were shown negative or neutral images. A negative image might be something like a mutilated body, for example, while a neutral image could be something like a chair.

在这项研究中，志愿者们接受了两组测试:一组是在他们的前臂上放一些温暖的东西，另一组是给他们看一些消极或中性的图像。负面图像可能是残缺不全的身体，而中性图像可能是一张椅子。

During these tests, half the time the participants were told to act naturally, and half the time they were told to try and apply the ideas from the mindfulness crash course they had been given; when applying mindfulness, the participants reported less pain and fewer negative emotions.

在这些测试中，一半的时间参与者被告知要自然地行动，另一半的时间他们被告知要尝试并应用他们所接受的正念速成课程中的想法;当应用正念时，参与者报告的疼痛更少，负面情绪更少。

While this was happening, the researchers were also using fMRI scans to see how the brains of the people being tested were reacting. This revealed something interesting: a significant drop in brain activity associated with pain and negative emotions when volunteers were trying to be mindful.

当这种情况发生时，研究人员也在使用fMRI扫描来观察被测者的大脑是如何反应的。这揭示了一个有趣的现象：当志愿者试图保持清醒时，与疼痛和负面情绪相关的大脑活动显著下降。

In the case of the physical experiment, when the highest temperatures were used, it was "as if the brain was responding to warm temperature, not very high heat", says neuroscientist Hedy Kober from Yale University.

耶鲁大学的神经科学家Hedy Kober说，在物理实验中，当使用最高温度时，大脑“就好像对温暖的温度做出反应，而不是很高的温度”。

What's more, these neurological shifts weren't happening in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, the bit where conscious and rational decision-making is processed – that suggests that deploying some mindfulness techniques can alter our brains on a subconscious level, without any deliberate effort in willpower.

更重要的是，这些神经学上的转变并没有发生在大脑的前额叶皮层，这部分区域负责处理有意识和理性的决策——这表明运用一些正念技巧可以在潜意识层面上改变我们的大脑，而不需要任何有意识的意志力。

Previous studies have demonstrated how lower brain activity and meditation practices can boost our health in numerous ways, but what this study shows – limited in scope as it is – is that the benefits can be relatively quick.

先前的研究已经证明，低强度的大脑活动和冥想练习可以在很多方面促进我们的健康，但这项研究表明，尽管范围有限，但其益处可能相对较快。

That in turn could give doctors new ways to try and treat physical and mental issues, though more research is going to be needed to see how these ideas play out in a bigger, more diverse group of people.

这反过来又可以给医生提供新的方法来尝试和治疗身体和精神问题，尽管还需要更多的研究来观察这些想法在更大、更多样化的人群中的表现。

"The ability to stay in the moment when experiencing pain or negative emotions suggests there may be clinical benefits to mindfulness practice in chronic conditions as well – even without long meditation practice," says Kober.

Kober说：“在经历痛苦或消极情绪的时刻保持清醒的能力表明，即使没有长时间的冥想练习，在慢性疾病中进行正念练习也可能有临床益处。”。

The research has been published in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.

这项研究发表在《社会认知与情感神经科学》上。