A Shocking Study

On Saturday I attended a meditation day at my zendo, and at a difficult moment I thought of an article I had read recently:

A U.S. study published on Thursday showed that most volunteers who were asked to spend no more than 15 minutes alone in a room doing nothing but sitting and thinking found the task onerous.  In fact, some of the volunteers, men in particular, in one of the 11 experiments led by University of Virginia researchers preferred to administer mild electrical shocks to themselves rather than sit and do nothing.

The instructions for meditation are not the same at those in the study.  We are to sit and focus on the breath or focus on a word, but thoughts are sure to interfere. I don't know if this study provides comfort or discouragement to my meditation practice--maybe both.