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Pain relief without pills? VR nature scenes trigger the brain’s healing switch

Stepping into a virtual forest or waterfall scene through VR could be the future of pain management. A new study shows that immersive virtual nature dramatically reduces pain sensitivity almost as effectively as medication. Researchers at the University of Exeter found that the more present participants felt in these 360-degree nature experiences, the stronger the pain-relieving effects. Brain scans confirmed that immersive VR scenes activated pain-modulating pathways, revealing that our brains can be coaxed into suppressing pain by simply feeling like we re in nature.

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