Chronic pain is now being studied further and countless studies have shown the link between emotional levels and pain relief. Maintaining a calm outlook and lowering stress levels is known to lower pain and even build your immune system.
- Imagery- Lots of therapists guide their patients through a certain scene to lower their anxiety levels and it is known to work. You can even do this at home if you take out 5 minutes of your day. The idea behind it is that you should imagine a calming setting and include feelings, sounds and details. This helps take your mind off the stress and puts you somewhere else.
- Meditation- Noticing your breath and trying to keep your mind of whatever is that is worrying you for even twenty minutes a day can result in positive changes. If stressful thoughts do persist, rather than pushing them away you should let them pass naturally. Having control over your mind is what meditation helps you with and it can later help you in your daily life as well.
- Yoga and tai chi- These two methods incorporate breath control, meditation and body movements. It can not only help people cure headaches but it is also helpful when it comes to injuries and chronic pain.
- Music- A Harvard study found that music can help reduce pain that is found after surgery and giving birth. Any genre can work and the point of the technique is to distract yourself by concentrating on something else.
- Focus- Paying attention to the sensations that result in the pain, for example, feeling extremely hot or a throbbing sensation can help separate the feeling. This allows the patient to see the pain as a sensation rather than a pain that never goes away. This allows your thought process to change so that you see them more as sensations rather than feeling constant pain.
- Distract yourself- Focusing on a part of the body that is not feeling any pain can help distract your mind. This allows your brain to realise that you are not only in pain and it is just another feeling along with others. You can alternatively focus on something in your surroundings. This can be anything from the sound of a fan to the rays of the sun falling through the window.
The idea behind these methods is to distract yourself from the pain you are focusing on and help your mind realise that there are other feelings as well and this is just one of them. The power of the mind when it comes to pain relief is being studied in detail and more patients are beginning to realise how much it can affect the body.
Horace is a health and wellness researcher with expertise in holistic medicine and evidence-based treatments. His writing covers everything from nutrition and fitness to emerging healthcare technologies.