How Chronic Pain Affects Your Life

Chronic pain is pain that doesn’t go away. It may vary in intensity, but it tends to stay around and becomes long-term pain. It can cause addiction to painkillers and other drugs. It’s effects on a person go beyond just the pain as it can affect a person’s decision-making abilities, the person getting involved in riskier ventures and even making unhealthy food choices. 

Chronic pain affects one in four adults and costs the US $635 billion in healthcare costs and lost

productivity each year. Surveys of professional athletes and members of the military are even worse. Among veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, over 80% suffer persistent pain caused by traumatic brain injuries. One cannot even imagine the long-term effects that the war in Ukraine will have on all the people involved.

Here's some of the research that’s been done on chronic pain.

One study looked at a person’s gambling decision-making. In the study, people without chronic pain tended to learn to stick with safer cards. The chronic pain people gambled larger sums and accrued greater debt. The researchers found that chronic pain sufferers were missing identifying subtle body changes like a racing heart, sweaty palms and churning stomachs that the non-suffers experienced and used to make a decision to play it safer.

The chronic pain suffers were less sensitive to these internal signals and made riskier decisions.

In a study published in the journal Pain, the researchers found that people experiencing lower back pain obtained less pleasure from eating high-fat foods. Those who suffered from backaches often continued to eat despite a lack of satisfaction and already feeling full. This   resulted in the person putting on weight.

 Another study found structural changes in the nucleus accumbens which is a brain region involved in motivation and reward. In rodents, they found that over-stimulating this brain region drove them to overeat even when they weren’t hunger. This absence of hunger resulted in a person becoming obese.

Chronic pain’s effects can even be seen in brain scans. People with persistent backaches had less grey matter in the prefrontal cortex, which is an area of the brain involved in pain perception, decision making and cognitive flexibility. 

One of the therapy’s that is being used to treat chronic pain is cognitive behavioral therapy. I’d suggest someone in chronic pain also explore acupuncture, physical therapy, meditation, tai chi and yoga.

So…the expression that it’s all in your mind needs to be expanded to include the brain and the body because chronic pain effects it all – it’s not just in your mind!
(Reported Discover Magazine, Chronic Pain Makes You Think Differently, March 28, 2022)

Exercise Can Stop Jet Lag And Reset Your Biological Clocks

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco have discovered that our muscles contain mini clocks which can help your body's master clock reset faster when you change time zones. To get the benefit all you need to do is to exercise for two or three workouts after you have arrived at your destination. What kind of exercise will work – walking, aerobics and lifting weights will do it? So…when you land at your destination, get those sneakers on as soon as you can.

Another recommendation that I make is to use meditation as a means of beating jet lag before you even get off the plan. If you know how to meditate, just do an extra couple of meditations while you are flying.

Meditation Can Lower A Teen's Blood Pressure

Contrary to the belief that you can't do anything with a teenager, you can now lower their blood pressure by having them meditate twice a day for 15 minutes each period. This comes from a study reported by the Medical College of Georgia. They did one meditation at school and the other at home for four months. Not only did their blood pressure drop over the four months, it continued to drop for four months after the meditation sessions ended.

In addition, the meditators had lower rates of absenteeism, school rule violations and suspensions than the control group. So…isn't it time you looked at having your school start a daily meditation program. It's a win- win situation for everyone.

NAPPING FOR HIGHER SALES AND PRODUCTIVITY

Some companies have actually created napping rooms in their facilities in or allowing employees to nap at their desks. The reason why is simple. Rested workers are more alert, in a better mood, and concentrate better, as reported by William Anthony, author of The Art of Napping at Work. He has conducted a survey in which 70 percent of the more than 1000 respondents said that they nap at work.

My suggestion would be to experiment with meditation, as I believe it can leave you more refreshed and revived than taking a nap. I will do that every once in awhile when I need more energy late in the afternoon.

MEDITATION AND PAIN REDUCTION

Even the National Institute of Health now recognizes the ability of meditation to decrease pain. Here are some of the applications that have been studied:
80% of hypertensive patients lowered their blood pressure and reduced their medications.
100% of insomnia patients reported improved sleep and 91% eliminated or reduced sleep medication
Infertile women have even increased their conception rate up to 36% vs. a 17% increase for women using in-vitro fertilization.
Women with severe PMS had a 57% reduction in physical and psychological symptoms.

Tibetan Buddhist Monks Can Raise Their Body Temperature Dramatically

Dr.  Alexander Levitov has conducted some fascinating research in Tibet.
He found that Buddhist monks who have trained for years are able to sit cross-legged, naked or nearly naked on icy mountains or in glacial waterfalls while meditating.
The practice is called tumo and these monks can do it for hours. Some can even be wrapped in a cold wet sheet while in a cold room and raise their body temperature enough to dry the sheet!
Dr. Levitov measured the monk’s body reactions when they began to meditate in the cold. Once the monks were in deep meditation, he found that their heart function improved, blood vessels dilated and brain activity increased.
A control group of volunteers just got colder.
Levitov said that the monk’s skin were actually hot to the touch.
So…since there are all kinds of benefits from meditating beyond meditating in the cold, you might want to experience it for yourself.
If you’ve never meditated or felt that it didn’t work for you, you can learn all about how anyone can meditate by reading my book Managing Your Stress in Difficult Times. You can click here to learn more.

(Reported The Virginian Pilot by Elizabeth Simpson, 4.21.13)

Using Meditation To Reduce Pain

You can use meditation as a pain relieving tool for the brain and the body.

When you hurt yourself and have pain, the pain comes from your brain and you experience it in your body.

What meditation is doing is reducing brain activity in the primary somatosensory cortex, which is an area that helps create the feeling of where and how intense a painful stimulus is.

If you want to learn how to easily meditate, you can learn how to do it from my book, Managing Your Stress In Difficult Times: Succeeding in Times of Change.