Can Mindfulness Improve Chronic Pain?

Mindfulness and chronic pain.

I want to talk about chronic pain. It’s inconvenient, obviously painful, often debilitating, and causes an array of other issues when conventional treatments fail. I have suffered from Migraine headaches for nearly fifty years and I am always grateful that I have days or even as many as three weeks at a pain-free time. Because I have refused to take any kind of medication, I learned early in my life to have a fallback routine for the “lost” days. While this has helped immensely it’s nothing more than a band-aid and I had continued to search for pain relief.

Chronic pain sufferers commonly experience anything from anxiety and depression to pain medication side-effects and addiction. All of this on top of excruciating pain that can’t seem to be controlled. Using the mindfulness approach for chronic pain may be just what the doctor didn’t know to order. I only discovered and began to use this for my migraine pain a couple of months ago.

Mindfulness is, simply put, paying close attention, and maintaining direct focus. Being brave enough to gracefully embrace a moment, good or bad, and know that it’s okay to let it go. Yes, it sounds terrifying to a chronic pain sufferer to pay more attention to the pain. Still, you should continue reading. I intend to make it clear how mindfulness for chronic pain can be highly beneficial and even help eliminate pain almost completely when practiced properly.

Some practical mindfulness techniques.

A common relaxation technique over the years has been to, tense up each part of the body, individually, count to 10, and then release your hold. The object is to notice exactly how tense you were, to begin with, and to physically feel the tension go away. You would typically begin at your head and gradually work your way down each body part until your entire body is completely relaxed.

For instance, you could start with your face by crinkling your forehead, squeezing your eyes together, pursing your lips, and clenching your teeth. Inhale through your nose, hold the tension as tight as you can for 10 seconds and then slowly exhale through your mouth. Feel the muscles relax in your face and head.

Feel the tension and stress leave your body. Notice how you feel the blood start to move again and how invigorated yet relaxed and calm it makes you feel. How completely aware you feel. This is the same premise as mindfulness for chronic pain.

The idea is to get closer to the pain, acknowledge it, assess it, and allow it to go. Accept that the pain is there, without judgment, which is the hardest part. Naturally, chronic pain and all that accompanies it is seen as negative.

Focus on pain relief.

But just for this exercise, try and view it neutrally. Shake hands with the pain as if it’s the first time you’re meeting a new neighbor. Visualize the pain. And when you exhale, let the pain move on.

Substantial pain relief may not be immediate, but if you are mindful and continue practicing mindfulness for chronic pain, the decrease in pain will gradually happen. It takes practice and focus, but it’s well worth the effort considering the damage other treatment measures can potentially cause to your body, mind, and spirit.

It also helps to alter your mindset on the pain itself. Your approach should be to understand your pain, individually describe the sensations you notice with and without the mindfulness exercises, and create a deeper awareness of equanimity.

If you enter this with the idea that your pain needs to be “fixed”, if you aren’t extremely successful on your first shot of meditation, your mind will interpret that as “failure”. And mindfulness for chronic pain is so much more than simple success and/or failure.

Mindfulness will help you achieve a more accurate perception of the pain. You essentially retrain your brain to calculate pain differently. Think about it; your mind doesn’t feel the pain, but it sure lets you know on a scale, how bad it might feel.

For your brain to differentiate the intensity of pain, it first had to send signals down to the core of the pain, which was then interpreted as even greater pain. It’s like poking a really bad bruise. Ouch!

Mindfulness, life, and pain connection.

Mindfulness for chronic pain isn’t about erasing pain. Mindfulness is a phenomenal and powerful method to help you live a full life even with the pain. Your focus is no longer on the outside obstacles but on accepting what’s going on inside your body and having an alternate relationship with it.

You get to choose your reactions, believe it or not, and mindfulness for chronic pain assists in just that. With practice and determination, you can and will change your pain response. Think of all the added benefits like less narcotic pain medication, less chance for addiction to medications, as well as decreased anxiety and depression symptoms.

What about the fact that you can begin again to live a meaningful, active life without spending the majority of your energy on avoiding any pain breakthrough?

Mindfulness for chronic pain has endless potential and the results can affect multiple areas of your life. There’s no reason not to give it a try.

My final thought 

My pain management is admittedly a work in progress. What pleases me is the reduction of the pain and the length of time the migraine lasts when I practice this technique. I attribute this to a lessening of the associated stress and anxiety I feel now that I have taken a more hands-on approach.

I hope you enjoyed this post and will share it with your family and friends.

How Exercise Increases Energy And Vitality

One of the most prized things among seniors and, likewise, one of the hardest things to achieve is a renewed sense and feeling of youth. Energy, vitality, and physical agility are difficult to hold on to as we age, but not impossible with exercise.

When you introduce healthy and positive habits into your regular routine, you can begin feeling younger and have greater energy in no time. By maintaining both a physically and socially active lifestyle you can greatly improve your overall quality of life during your golden years, making them feel truly golden.

Boost your confidence and mood

While exercise is just a small chunk of recovery, it provides a host of health benefits that aren't just physical. In fact, engaging in exercise on a consistent basis has been found to improve mood, increase happiness, and boost productivity! Who knew that hitting the gym a few times a week could be as effective as a therapy session?

In addition, exercise has been known to make individuals feel a sense of calm and relief. This control helps them deal with their everyday challenges without getting overwhelmed. If you're looking for ways to improve your self-development and seek happiness, check out why and how exercise is a great tool to implement into your recovery routine.

1. Get a proven mood boost with exercise 

When you exercise, your brain releases dozens of hormones that contribute to your happiness. Of those hormones, endorphins and serotonin are the primary ones. 

The hormones regulate your mood and help you to balance your emotions. In fact, healthy doses of serotonin increase your happiness! Because of this biological boost, many doctors suggest engaging in some form of physical activity to increase the production of these hormones.

2. Feel more confident

Sure, exercising on a regular basis and eating well contribute to a nice physical appearance. That's partly one of the main reasons why people exercise so often. However, did you know that regular exercise can make you feel confident, productive, and accomplished.  

Exercise isn't an easy task. If it was, more people would enjoy doing it. But, by pushing yourself to overcome your physical limitations and hit the gym, you give yourself an immediate boost of confidence. 

Tackling those heavy weights or finally being able to run a mile on the treadmill are awesome accomplishments you can be proud of. And as you continue going, your strength and stamina will increase. This will make better equipped to tackle other challenges in and out of the gym.

3. You feel better about yourself

When you aren't happy with your outward appearance, it's hard to feel confident on a regular basis. Exercise not only improves your strength; it also improves how you look physically. When you begin to see progress, you begin to feel a sense of success and confidence.

Having a healthy sense of self-confidence helps you to develop lasting relationships with others and yourself. You're automatically happier which obviously results in an increased mood. 

“Aging is not ‘Lost Youth’ but a new stage of opportunity and strength.”

— Betty Friedan

Choosing exercise that fits your abilities and lifestyle

There are countless different forms of exercise such as cycling, kickboxing, yoga, CrossFit, Zuu workouts and so many more. When it comes to choosing a type of exercise to stay active, most people think of the popular and fancy workouts like Zumba, P90X, etc.

Little thought is given to walking as a form of exercise. It is often disparaged and thought of as an activity that is reserved for senior citizens. However, there are many health benefits that can be gained from walking daily.

It’s one of the best exercises on the planet, it needs no special equipment, and our bodies have evolved over centuries to benefit from regular walks.

1.   The impact on your body is low

Walking is a low-impact activity that won’t wear out your joints. Unlike running, kickboxing or other high-impact activities that can make your joints ache, walking is a lot more forgiving on your body.

2.   The low intensity nature allows it to be done daily

It’s a low-intensity exercise that will not tax your central nervous system like CrossFit or some of the more vigorous forms of exercise. With high intensity interval training (HIIT), you may need to take a one-day break after every workout because of the demands it places on your body. Walking is much more relaxing in comparison and can be done daily.

3.   The versatility is almost endless

Walking can be applied to many different areas in your life. You could easily walk to the mall and back, if it’s within walking distance or walk in the mall on a cold or rainy day. Driving to work? Park your car a block away and walk to your office.

There are social benefits when walking with a friend and you can inject a bit of competition to rev up the walk. The more you walk, the better.

Thousands of people wear Fitbits to track the number of steps they take daily. You’d easily meet your daily quota if you walked for 30 to 45 minutes a day.

4.   Walk your weight off

Walking may seem like a humble exercise, but it can help you lose the pounds if you’re consistent. Going for a 30 to 45-minute walk daily on an empty stomach will help your body tap into its fat stores for fuel because its low on glycogen.

This is a very effective way to lose weight. Thousands of people shirk exercise because they fear the exertion and exhaustion involved. Walking is easy enough to do and help you achieve your weight loss goal. It may take longer than more rigorous training methods, but you’ll still get there.

5.   Stress be gone

Walking will help you to relieve stress. This is especially true if you walk in a park or some picturesque setting. Walking allows you time to calm yourself and get in touch with your thoughts.

You do not need to focus on good form or train to failure like you would with resistance training. Walking is a natural form of movement and therapeutic to your soul. Walking will also aid in digestion and improve your blood circulation. It will improve your cardiovascular strength and boost your immune system.

If you walk in the sun, you’ll get your daily dose of vitamin D. Thousands of people are deficient in vitamin D and it causes them to feel lethargic and depressed. Walking will lift your moods by ensuring that you get natural vitamin D in your system. Don’t forget to wear your sunblock.

Conclusion

By now you’ll realize that walking is an activity that’s so useful it can’t be neglected. Even if you focus most of your training on hardcore activities like HIIT or weightlifting, on your off days, you can have an active rest day.

What that means is that you can go for a 30-minute walk and call it a day. The walking will help to soothe sore muscles because of the increased blood circulation, and it’s also light enough to not tax your body but still burn a few calories so that it’s easier to stay lean and fit.

I hope you found some useful information in this post. I would appreciate it if you share it with someone you care about.