To relieve moderate pain, you don’t need medication: just slow down you’re breathing. Since breathing is a natural pain reliever and is at your fingertips.
In a recent study, 52 women were given brief, slightly painful hot strokes on the palms of their hands; They were then asked to breathe at about half their normal rate, and the sensation of pain and discomfort decreased by as much as 30 percent.
At the apparently breathing slowly reduces stress reactions, such as rapid heart rate and high blood pressure. This may explain why some meditation techniques help reduce pain. To get the benefits, count your number of breaths per minute; then sit down and gradually slow down.
Breathing is a natural pain reliever.
Other scientific studies carried out on 2 groups of women between 40 and 60 years of age brought together these two groups that half of them expected to have no health problems while the other half suffered from fibromyalgia, a pathology that it causes chronic pain in various parts of the body, such as muscles and joints.
All of the women received moderately painful heat pulses in their hands while breathing normally and subsequently when breathing more slowly. They should relate how strong the pain they felt was, how they felt it and for how long.
The healthy volunteers experienced a reduction in pain with slower breathing, but the situation was different for the women with fibromyalgia. Only those who had an optimistic and positive personality felt relief in pain thanks to the reduction in respiratory rate.
The researchers argued that their results show that slow breathing may help relieve pain, but they also underscore that a person’s attitude has effects on the perception of suffering.