and their status was recorded before and after the process. After the testing period, an increase in left-sided anterior activation among the people in the meditation group was noticed. This was associated by a significant increase in the concentration of anti-bodies to influenza vaccine. The final conclusion was that the meditation process helps in strengthening the body’s immune system. (Psychosomatic Medicine) Second, one of the most important reasons that encourage people to practice meditation is its ability to decrease the pain feelings. An experiment has been done to understand the relationship between meditation and the sensory part of the brain. At the beginning of the experiment arterial spin labeling (ASL) functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess the impact of meditation on the pain feelings of a healthy human participant. In the presence of noxious simulation and after 4 days of mindfulness meditation, the results were taken from the meditation participants. The scores showed a reduction in the pain unpleasantness by 57% and pain-intensity ratings by 40% when compared to rest. The meditation process made a difference because; the meditation reduces the
activation of the contra lateral primary somatosensory cortex. Also, meditation increases activity in the anterior cingulated cortex and anterior insula areas involved in the cognitive regulation of nociceptive processing. In addition, the reduction in pain unpleasantness ratings were directly related to the activation of the orbitofrontal cortex, an area implicated in reframing the contextual evaluation of sensory events. Also, the degree of pain unpleasantness is related to the thalamic deactivation, which reflects a limbic gating mechanism which is taking a part in modifying interactions between afferent input and executive-order brain areas.( National Center for Biotechnology Information )