Not only am I receiving my dad’s magazines, but my neighbor had some subscriptions that he is no longer using so he is passing them on to us. I have a lot of magazines. Most magazines are just advertisements. Even the “articles” are just ads disguised as “information”. I used to go through a magazine and just rip out the advertisements the second I got it, but now I am passing magazines onto one of the community centers where I work so I don’t rip out the advertisements. I have been perusing the magazines to get information to pass onto my readers. An article I read recently in Good Housekeeping was titled 5 {WHO-KNEW WAYS} to Fight Pain. Well, many of us knew, but sometimes it is interesting to see what others are saying. And some of them were NEW to me.
The five things are Diet, Sleep, Reframing, Relaxing, and Exercise.
The first thing they recommend to help ease pain is change the diet. One of the main causes of pain is chronic inflammation. I am not sure if you have ever noticed that some days you might wake up a little sore. Could be that you didn’t even do anything the day before to make you sore. But when you get out of bed you notice that your joints feel a little stiff. A lot of people attribute this to the aging process. While aging probably has something to do with it, I know plenty of young people that wake up (or sit for a long time) and have a difficult time moving right after. For me, I believe it has a lot to do with what I have eaten. Next time you wake up sore without having lifted weights or done anything to warrant it, think about what you had to eat the day before or even the day before that. Just keep an idea in your mind of what you had. Then see if you are sore the next time you have that same food. I believe that for some people gluten causes joint pain. There are a lot of foods that can trigger an immune response and they (the foods) are different for everyone. So switching up your diet might help alleviate some pain. There are Anti-Inflammation Foods you might want to add to your diet.
Lack of sleep can increase inflammation in the body. And we have already stated that inflammation is one of the main causes of pain. Also, the article is saying that sleep deprivation can change how people experience pain. Studies have shown that getting an hour’s more sleep before surgery has helped patients need less pain medication.
Then there is “reframe the pain“, as in stop talking about it, stop dwelling on it, stop focusing on it, and start thinking about it differently. Instead of just thinking about the pain and expecting it to be bad, think about something else. Focus on something positive, kind of distract yourself from the pain. Or instead of saying something like, “Oh this is going to be awful, it is going to hurt so bad.” Perhaps think, “This is something that I can handle. It will not be that bad. I can easily get through this.” I found an online article about “Reframing”.
Then there is relaxing. The article mentions Biofeedback with electrodes or classes that you can take the help you be more mindfully relaxed. I believe that breathing techniques like Pranayama might help. Focusing on relaxing tense muscles can help bring ease into the body.
There is also mention of exercise. When you exercise your body produces endorphins which give you that happy feeling and that can help fight the pain. Exercising for pain management really depends on the type of pain, of course. You have to be able to move and make certain you are not further injuring yourself. People often ask me after an intense workout that has left them sore, what is the best way to get better, and my belief is to keep moving. Some people don’t think that way so we all need to deal with DOMS in a way that you feel is best. While you want to let the muscle recuperate sitting around and doing nothing isn’t necessarily going to make the aches and pains go away.
What type of pain can these five things help?
Diet: Chronic pain due to inflammation
Sleep: Any kind of pain
Reframing: All types of pain
Relaxing: Chronic pain
Exercise: Mild to moderate Chronic pain, especially muscles pain (DOMS)
So for many of us who would rather not reach for a pain killer in the form of a pill, these ideas might be something to try. What do you think?
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