\u201cI\u2019ve studied humans for more than 20 years, and this was the most striking effect I\u2019ve ever seen,\u201d said Dr. Liron Rozenkrantz, assistant professor at the university\u2019s Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, who supervised the study. Dr. Nofar Mizrachi led and conducted the research in collaboration with Prof. Menachem Rottem, head of the Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Service at Emek Medical Center in Afula.<\/p>\n
The researchers said the findings could help people learn to use targeted attention training alongside traditional medical treatments to relieve chronic inflammatory conditions and autoimmune diseases.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cOur cognitive processes can shape how the body regulates itself,\u201d Rozenkrantz said. \u201cFeeling pain does contribute to the healing process.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are aware of the placebo effect, when someone is given a sham drug, and they think it\u2019s real and they get better,\u201d Rozenkrantz said.<\/p>\n Researchers in her lab<\/a> take that idea one step further to explore how people\u2019s perceptions can alter a disease\u2019s progress or improve treatment efficacy.<\/p>\n \u201cWe tend to think of the immune system, injury, or inflammation resolution as something that can take care of itself without any involvement of any high cognitive function,\u201d Rozenkrantz said. \u201cBut what happens if the mind focuses on the pain? Does directing the brain toward the injury actually impact its healing? That\u2019s never been studied in humans before.\u201d<\/p>\n Pay attention<\/p>\n To test this question, the lab invited 57 people, aged 20 to 45, to participate in the experiment.<\/p>\n \u201cWe did a very standardized procedure to induce acute inflammation in the skin,\u201d Rozenkrantz explained. \u201cIt\u2019s called a histamine skin prick test, and basically it\u2019s like an allergy test to cause acute skin inflammation.\u201d<\/p>\n \t \u201cWithin less than 30 seconds, you already see the response,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s sort of like the skin has been stung by something. There\u2019s a bump in the middle, and a flare-up or redness all around it.\u201d<\/p>\n The inflammation lasts about 20 to 30 minutes, and then it resolves quickly, Rozenkrantz said.<\/p>\n During the experiment, Mizrachi induced inflammation in the participants, who were instructed to pay attention to the sensations in their inflamed arm, or were given videos to watch to remain distracted from thinking about the inflammation.<\/p>\n \u201cWe simply told them to pay attention to sensations arising from the inflamed site,\u201d she said. \u201cIf attention draws away from it, then bring your attention back. We did the same thing when they were distracted, explaining that if their attention wandered, to return to what was happening on the screen.\u201d<\/p>\n During the experiments, the researchers measured physical swelling and redness with a standard ruler at six distinct time intervals over 20 minutes.<\/p>\n \t They also recorded heart rate, skin temperature, pulse and breathing rates to monitor the body\u2019s involuntary nervous system.<\/p>\n \u201cThe results were significantly different within one minute,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cNearly 90 percent of participants showed less inflammation when paying attention to it, with total swelling and redness measuring about 1.5 times smaller than when they were distracted,\u201d she said. \u201cThe brain can help regulate immune responses.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018You need to touch your pain to resolve it\u2019<\/p>\n The study could open new pathways to future research.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is one of the more clever and fascinating studies done in humans, and it may open new possibilities for treatment based on how the brain and immune system interact,\u201d Asya Rolls, professor of neuroscience at Tel Aviv University\u2019s School of Neurobiology, Biochemistry and Biophysics, who was unconnected to the study, told The Times of Israel.<\/p>\n \u201cWe already know that the brain can affect immunity through stress, expectations, conditioning, and the autonomic nervous system,\u201d Rolls said. \u201cBut this study goes a step further by showing that attention, something we can actively control, can change an ongoing immune response.\u201d<\/p>\n \t One of the \u201cbiggest challenges\u201d in human studies is showing causality, Rolls said. \u201cThe study does this particularly well because the researchers experimentally changed where the same person focused their attention while keeping the inflammatory challenge the same.\u201d<\/p>\n For Rozenkrantz, the study opens the door to new thinking about how people can heal after injury.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you underwent surgery and you have scars or stitches, if you pay a little bit more attention to the pain, would it help the scars resolve in a better way?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n Although she is focused on the physical aspect of healing, she speculated that with emotional trauma or PTSD, some researchers \u201cwould probably agree that you need to touch your pain to resolve it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re now more aware of what thoughts can do,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re not just passive; they are actually active. We don\u2019t know everything, but it\u2019s a question we\u2019re asking, and something we\u2019d all be happier to learn more about.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tDr. Liron Rozenkrantz of Bar-Ilan University\u2019s Azrieli Faculty of Medicine (Courtesy\/Rami Zarnegar Photography)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/iStock-1222563193-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tIllustrative image: neurons in the human brain (iStock via Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/iStock-2190176756-640x400.jpg\")
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