I think the most powerful piece of technology is the human body. It's gone through millions of years of evolution, so why the hell shouldn't it be? It can adapt to almost any environment, deal with almost any situation, and I'd say it's worked out pretty well for us so far. So what's a little pain?
A pain in the ass, that's what. Pain sucks, and we spend most of our lives avoiding, dulling or killing it. But a recent study showed just how kickass the human body is: by meditating, subjects had "about a 40 percent reduction in pain intensity and 57 percent reduction in pain unpleasantness," said Dr. Fadel Zeiden, who ran the trials. It's like Morpheus said, the mind makes it real.
Of course, theories of this exact premise have been considered for centuries. We've all seen people walk on coal, sleep on spikes and do crazy grotesque things with their bodies without flinching. The study, however, found one very remarkable thing: "Meditation produced an even greater reduction in pain than even morphine or other pain-relieving drugs, which typically pain ratings by about 25 percent." I guess that explains why when my infected tooth got yanked, Vicodin did nothing but getting into a ridiculous match of Halo 2 practically numbed the pain.
[Telegraph] (Image via Meditation Guidance)
