Pain Processing and Pain Control in Experienced Yoga Practitioners

Detailed Summary

Background: \- Different people perceive the same pain differently. Mood, attention, stress, and personality affect how we feel pain. Researchers want to know whether people who do yoga perceive pain differently than people who do not practice yoga, meditation, or martial arts. They also want to study if cortisol, a stress hormone, relates to pain or brain differences. Objective: \- To study the effects of yoga on the body s stress response, pain perception, and the brain s structure and pain response. Eligibility: * Right-handed adults 30 years and older who practice yoga regularly. * Healthy right-handed volunteers 30 years and older who do at least mild exercise but no yoga or martial arts. Design: * Visit 1: Participants will be screened with medical history and physical exam. They will have blood and urine tests and electrocardiogram to measure heart activity. * At home, participants will wear a heart monitor for 1 day and collect 5 saliva samples daily for seven days. * Visit 2: Participants will undergo tests in a chair or in a mock MRI machine. They will lie on a table that slides into a cylinder. * A heating device will be placed on their leg and heated periodically for few seconds at a time. * They will give saliva samples. * Heart rate, respiration, etc. will be monitored. * They will fill out questionnaires. * Visit 3: Participants will answer questions and repeat Visit 2 tests. Tests will be done in the real MRI machine. The scanner makes loud knocking sounds. Participants will get earplugs. Participants will be in the scanner about 1 hour with a coil over their head.

Study Details

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