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</nav>  </div> <div class="l-main-wrapper"> <div class="l-main" id="page-content"> <h2 class="element-invisible">You are here</h2><div class="breadcrumb"><a href="/">Home</a> » <a href="/news-events">News & Events</a> » <a href="/news-events/nih-research-matters">NIH Research Matters</a></div> <div class="l-region l-region--section-header"> <div id="block-block-101" class="block block--block sectionheader block--block-101" id="block-block-101" class="block block--block sectionheader block--block-101"> <div class="content" class="block__content"> <h2><a href="/news-events/nih-research-matters">NIH Research Matters</a></h2> </div> </div> </div> <div class="l-content-wrapper"> <div class="l-content" role="main"> <a id="main-content"></a> <div about="/news-events/nih-research-matters/sex-differences-how-body-reduces-pain" typeof="sioc:Item foaf:Document" class="ds-1col node node--nih-research-matters view-mode-full node--full node--nih-research-matters--full clearfix"> <p class="publishdate"><span property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2024-10-29T00:00:00-04:00" class="date-display-single">October 29, 2024</span></p><div class='syndicate'><h1>Sex differences in how the body reduces pain</h1><div class="callout callout-with-border"><h3>At a Glance</h3> <ul> <li>A study suggests that meditation for pain relief may work through different systems in females and males.</li> <li>The results highlight the need for research into different approaches to treating pain depending on sex.</li> </ul></div><div class="media-float-right"><div class="ds-1col file file-image file-image-jpeg view-mode-floated_media clearfix"> <picture title="Diverse group meditating in a yoga studio.">  <source srcset="https://www.nih.gov/sites/default/files/styles/floated_media_breakpoint-large/public/news-events/research-matters/2024/20241029-pain_0.jpeg?itok=8eX31NJJ&timestamp=1730208687 1x" media="screen and (min-width: 960px)" /> <source srcset="https://www.nih.gov/sites/default/files/styles/floated_media_breakpoint-medium/public/news-events/research-matters/2024/20241029-pain_0.jpeg?itok=v9pAmXXb&timestamp=1730208687 1x" media="screen and (min-width: 800px)" /> <source srcset="https://www.nih.gov/sites/default/files/styles/floated_media_breakpoint-medium-small/public/news-events/research-matters/2024/20241029-pain_0.jpeg?itok=guOtCHK7&timestamp=1730208687 1x" media="screen and (min-width: 600px)" /> <source srcset="https://www.nih.gov/sites/default/files/styles/floated_media_breakpoint-small/public/news-events/research-matters/2024/20241029-pain_0.jpeg?itok=H0xHEoQl&timestamp=1730208687 1x" media="screen and (min-width: 480px)" /> <source srcset="https://www.nih.gov/sites/default/files/styles/floated_media_breakpoint-tiny/public/news-events/research-matters/2024/20241029-pain_0.jpeg?itok=JTmMmoMz&timestamp=1730208687 1x" media="screen and (min-width: 0)" />  <img src="https://www.nih.gov/sites/default/files/styles/floated_media_breakpoint-medium/public/news-events/research-matters/2024/20241029-pain_0.jpeg?itok=v9pAmXXb&timestamp=1730208687" alt="Diverse group meditating in a yoga studio." title="Diverse group meditating in a yoga studio." /> </picture><span class="caption">Meditation can provide pain relief for both sexes, but the study suggests it works differently in males and females. </span><span class="credit">Song_about_summer / Adobe Stock</span></div> </div><p>Pain—and how well pain treatments work—differs between the sexes. Females are more likely to experience chronic pain than males. Studies have also shown that opioid painkillers are less effective in females.</p> <p>Several systems inside the body contribute to the perception of pain and the response to pain treatments. One of the most important is called the endogenous opioid system. It naturally produces chemicals that reduce pain. Opioid-based medications work by tapping into this system.</p> <p>To better understand whether sex-based differences in the endogenous opioid response contribute to differences in pain, researchers led by Dr. Fadel Zeidan from the University of California, San Diego analyzed data previously collected in two small, NIH-funded clinical trials. Both trials tested whether an endogenous opioid response was required for people to feel pain reduction during meditation. Past studies had shown that meditation techniques can help reduce some types of pain, including back pain, for some people.</p> <p>One of the trials enrolled people with chronic back pain. The other enrolled people without chronic pain of any kind. A total of 98 people—51 females and 47 males—participated in the studies. In both trials, the researchers randomly assigned participants to learn either mindfulness meditation or another meditation technique that didn’t focus on mindfulness. The volunteers then practiced their meditation during exposure to a painful but harmless heat source on their leg over two sessions.</p> <p>After the participants underwent pain exposure, they randomly received either an infusion of the drug naloxone, which blocks the endogenous opioid system, or saline. They then underwent pain exposure again while practicing their meditation techniques.</p> <p>All participants received both infusions over the two sessions without knowing which was which. They reported their levels of pain before and after the infusions. In the new study, Zeidan and his colleagues looked at whether changes in pain during meditation differed between the sexes. Results appeared on October 14, 2024, in <em>PNAS Nexus</em>.</p> <p>For males and females, both types of meditation significantly lowered levels of pain during saline infusion. However, in males, the pain relief from meditation disappeared when they received naloxone. This shows that the endogenous opioid system mediates the effects of meditation on pain in males.</p> <p>In contrast, females had no substantial drop in pain relief during meditation when they received naloxone. This suggests that a different mechanism is responsible for controlling pain relief in females.</p> <p>“There are clear disparities in how pain is managed between men and women, but we haven’t seen a clear biological difference in the use of their endogenous systems before now,” Zeidan says. “This study provides the first clear evidence that sex-based differences in pain processing are real and need to be taken more seriously when developing and prescribing treatment for pain.”</p> <p>More studies are needed to directly measure sex differences for other pain-reduction strategies.</p> <p>—by Sharon Reynolds</p></div><h2 class="label-above">Related Links</h2><ul class="spaced print-urls"><li><a href="https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/scientists-find-brain-circuit-placebo-pain-relief" target="_top">Scientists Find Brain Circuit for Placebo Pain Relief</a></li><li><a href="https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/brain-activity-predicts-chronic-pain" target="_top">Brain Activity Predicts Chronic Pain</a></li><li><a href="https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/understanding-how-sound-suppresses-pain" target="_top">Understanding How Sound Suppresses Pain</a></li><li><a href="https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/retraining-brain-treat-chronic-pain" target="_top">Retraining the Brain to Treat Chronic Pain</a></li><li><a href="https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/scientists-find-new-pain-suppression-center-brain" target="_top">Scientists Find New Pain-Suppression Center in the Brain</a></li><li><a href="https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/how-opioid-drugs-activate-receptors" target="_top">How Opioid Drugs Activate Receptors</a></li><li><a href="https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/yoga-eases-moderate-severe-chronic-low-back-pain" target="_top">Yoga Eases Moderate to Severe Chronic Low Back Pain</a></li><li><a href="https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/meditation-cognitive-behavioral-therapy-ease-low-back-pain" target="_top">Meditation and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Ease Low Back Pain</a></li><li><a href="https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/disorders/pain" target="_top">Pain</a></li><li><a href="https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/pain" target="_top">Pain (Complementary and Integrative Health)</a></li></ul><p class="footnote"><strong class="label-inline">References: </strong><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39430222/">Self-regulated analgesia in males but not females is mediated by endogenous opioids.</a> Dean JG, Reyes M, Oliva V, Khatib L, Riegner G, Gonzalez N, Posey G, Collier J, Birenbaum J, Chakravarthy K, Wells RE, Goodin B, Fillingim R, Zeidan F. <em>PNAS Nexus</em>. 2024 Oct 14;3(10):pgae453. doi: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae453. eCollection 2024 Oct. 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