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Researchers in France recently looked at the impact of the circadian clock (your body’s internal clock that controls the natural sleep-wake system) on pain sensitivity. They conducted heat sensitivity testing in 14 healthy participants over 56 hours. The first 22 hours followed their normal sleep/wake cycles and meal times,…
Researchers at University of California San Diego recently looked at the effects of mindfulness meditation on pain in healthy volunteers. They applied painful heat on the volunteers while in an MRI before and after four 20-minute mindfulness training sessions and compared it to a control group that spent the…
It has been well-studied that diet can affect symptoms among individuals with fibromyalgia (FM). A recent study reports that individuals with FM appear have deficiencies in antioxidants, which prevents toxic substances or free radicals from damaging healthy tissues. When individuals are deficient in antioxidants, they may experience…
Many people suffering from chronic pain report that weather conditions worsen their pain. However, researchers have found mixed results. Using a smart phone app that collected local weather data and allowed participants with underlying pain conditions to track their daily pain symptoms including pain severity, mood, activity, and fatigue,…
Stress has a direct impact on our health and plays a significant role in chronic pain. Previous research has shown that ongoing exposure to stressors is more strongly associated with chronic pain than a singular traumatic event. A recent analysis by a team of…
Research suggests that mitochondrial dysfunction (decreased cellular energy metabolism) has been shown to contribute to pain perception and chronic pain conditions. A recent research study examined the full mitochondrial genomes (mtDNA) of individuals with a variety of persistent pain conditions (CPPCs). They enrolled either normal controls or persons with…
Mindfulness meditation is a structured practice in which you focus on being deeply aware of what you’re sensing and feeling in the moment, without interpretation or judgment. A study was conducted to examine the effects mindfulness meditation had on 58 women with fibromyalgia. Participants partook in an 8-week mindfulness…
A recent study set out to investigate the correlation between blood markers and pain intensity in women with fibromyalgia (FM). The researchers examined the correlation between proteins and pain intensity, sensitivity, and psychological distress among participants. Samples from 30 FM patients and 32 controls were used for analysis. The…
A longitudinal study investigated the relationship between physical activity (PA) and cognitive function. The study followed 16,700 persons between the ages of 54 and 75 for over 13 years. This study was unique by measuring cognitive changes over time while considering several social-economic and lifestyle influencing factors. The researchers…
A study was conducted to evaluate if the relationship that marathon runners’ muscle pain experience and their coping strategies have anything to do with their race performance. All runners reported experiencing increasing levels of pain throughout the marathon; however, it was observed that those who used adaptive pain…
