By triggering a state of deep rest, patients can deal with a range of disorders more effectively, new research has revealed.
Scientists at the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind/Body Medicine and the Genomics Center at Beth Israel Deaconess revealed that by inducing a relaxation response in patients, pain syndromes can be more successfully addressed.
Dr Towia Libermann, "This is the first comprehensive study of how the mind can affect gene expression, linking what has been looked on as a ‘soft’ science with the ‘hard’ science of genomics. It is also important because of its focus on gene expression in healthy individuals, rather than in disease states."
Gene patterns have been noted to change when a patient has entered a state of deep rest through methods such as meditation, deep breathing and prayer.
"For hundreds of years Western medicine has looked at mind and body as totally separate entities, to the point where saying something ‘is all in your head’ implied that it was imaginary," said Dr Herbert Benson.
People can access the findings of the collaborative investigation through the open-access journal PLoS One.
