Neuroscience Specialist Estanislao Bachrach: “The Best Painkillers Are in the Stomach”

Estanislao Bachrach argues that people may find some of the most effective relief from suffering through the body. “I think the best painkillers are in the stomach, and when you change the way you breathe, your breathing patterns, it calms the pain, but above all the suffering disappears,” the molecular biologist told La Nación.

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I think anyone can gain access. Many of us cannot access it alone; we need a coach, a therapist or a best friend. Sometimes you have an insight by reading a book or listening to a podcast. It requires discipline, time, effort and attention, the things adults say they do not have.

Bachrach said anyone can gain access to self-knowledge, although many people need help from a coach, therapist or close friend. Books and podcasts can also provide a moment of insight, he said. The process demands discipline, time, effort and attention, qualities adults often feel they lack.

He emphasized the effects of regular meditation on the brain. “The structure and, sometimes, the function of certain areas of the brain, of the neurons, begins to change,” he said, particularly in areas linked to attention. Meditation involves directing attention to one place, and brain scans can show the difference, he added.

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I think the best painkillers are in the stomach, and when you change the way you breathe, your breathing patterns, it calms the pain, but above all the suffering disappears.

The challenge is maintaining the practice. Bachrach compared meditation with exercising a muscle: if someone trains for several months and then stops, the brain moves back toward its previous state. He said modern technology has provided much more scientific evidence for meditation’s effect on the body, brain and well-being. The techniques are free and easy to learn, he said, but require patience, effort, discipline and consistency.

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The structure and, sometimes, the function of certain areas of the brain, of the neurons, begins to change.

Bachrach also separated physical pain from emotional suffering. He lives with chronic migraines and said cognitive behavioral therapy helped him recognize that the pain itself was accompanied by mental suffering. Pain, he explained, is a natural bodily response, while suffering has more to do with the mind.

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I suffer from chronic migraines and began to realize, with the help of a cognitive behavioral therapist, that in addition to hurting a lot, I was suffering a lot.