Next time a mosquito bite flares up on a beach in Bali or a hiking trail in the Alps, your instinct might be to distract yourself and hope it goes away. A new study suggests the opposite works better: pay attention to it.

The research, published in Nature Human Behaviour, found that how we direct our attention can change how our bodies handle inflammation. Scientists at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, led by senior author Liron Rozenkrantz, induced a mosquito-bite-style reaction on the forearms of 57 volunteers using a drop of histamine and a needle prick. Participants then either distracted themselves with a cognitive task on a screen or focused their attention on the sensations in their inflamed skin — without looking at or touching it.

The results were striking. When people distracted themselves, 90 percent showed more inflammation, with redness and swelling roughly 50 percent greater. Paying attention, by contrast, helped the skin calm down faster: after 20 minutes, nearly 90 percent of the attentive group had swelling that stabilised or shrank, versus just 46 percent of the distracted group. Because each person did both conditions, the comparison was unusually clean.

Why would this happen? The researchers point to the close — and long underappreciated — relationship between the brain and the immune system. One clue came from a follow-up test using lidocaine: when the skin was numbed, attention had a weaker effect, suggesting the sensations themselves feed signals back to the brain, which then helps regulate the immune response. Attention also increased heart rate variability, a sign of the calming "rest-and-digest" branch of the nervous system. That points to the vagus nerve, the bundle of some 200,000 fibres running from brain to organs, which earlier research by Kevin Tracey of the Feinstein Institutes showed can dial down inflammation when stimulated.

Experts are quick to add caveats. The study looked at short-lived inflammation with no pathogen to fight, and it didn't measure immune molecules directly. It's not a reason to skip painkillers or antihistamines. But it may help explain why practices like meditation have long been reported to ease physical complaints, and it adds another piece to the puzzle of links between inflammation and conditions such as depression, long Covid and dementia.

For travellers, the practical takeaway is modest but intriguing. Bug bites, sunburn, blisters and itchy heat rash are holiday staples, and the study hints that noticing a sensation with curiosity — rather than grimly distracting yourself — may help it settle sooner. Rozenkrantz's own framing: "maybe we can be more curious about it rather than just try to make it go away."

It's also a nudge for the wellness-curious. Mindfulness retreats and meditation practices keep accumulating plausible biological backing, and this study suggests the benefits may extend beyond stress relief to measurable physical recovery.

Just remember the basics still apply: pack the repellent, and if a bite or rash looks serious, see a doctor. Curiosity is a supplement, not a cure.

Reported by NZ Herald Travel.