Guided imagery helps in healing

ROCHESTER, Minn., Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Guided imagery -- an imagination technique that can be taught -- can help people heal, a U.S. health newsletter reports.

The Mayo Clinic Health Letter says guided imagery is more than listening to relaxing sounds but a learning process in which listening, relaxing and imagining send a message to the emotional area of the brain. The body responds in a number of ways, including lowered heart and breathing rates, the newsletter says.

Some of the benefits of guided imagery are:

-- Reducing the side effects from cancer treatment.

-- Reducing fear and anxiety prior to surgery. Studies have shown that surgery patients who participated in two to four guided imagery sessions required less pain medication and left the hospital more quickly than those who hadn't used imagery.

-- Managing stress.

-- Managing headaches. Studies have shown that guided imagery may aid as effectively as taking preventive medications in reducing the frequency of migraine headaches.