Strategies For Better Tolerating Physical Pain
In many diseases, pain is a common symptom. Physical pain causes suffering. It therefore becomes a very heavy load. You should know that besides analgesics, there are other strategies to better tolerate physical pain and which can eventually replace medication.
Harvard University School of Medicine claimed that physical pain is strongly associated with the mental level. Researchers point out that how one experiences depends a lot on personality, lifestyle, emotions and past experiences.
We have thus detected cases in which a person has experienced physical pain for a time. The situation is improving but she continues to feel this pain. This is because the brain gets used to certain sensations and then reproduces them automatically. This is a similar effect to that of “phantom limbs”. So, when dealing with physical pain, it is essential to work on the mental or psychological level.
Mental perception of physical pain
It is not uncommon to consider – wrongly – that the body is separate from the mind. We humans are not just a biological substrate. We have a brain that interprets and makes sense of everything it experiences. Therefore, all physical pain also involves the mind.
Each of us has a mental pattern in relation to pain. When it arises, we give it meaning in our life. We have expectations of what it represents and we respond to them in a specific way. This conditions the intensity of the pain and the tolerance threshold.
Pain threshold is a concept that refers to the ability of humans to tolerate physical pain. It varies from person to person. In some, the sensation of pain is very intense when faced with weak stimuli. Others, on the other hand, can tolerate very intense pain stimuli. The individual differences in this variable depend largely on the psychological state of each individual.
Strategies to better tolerate pain
There are a number of proven strategies for managing physical pain. It is first of all a question of carrying out relaxation practices to achieve that the body and the spirit are in symbiosis in order to obtain a more serene state. This makes the physical pain more tolerable.
The most common strategies are:
- Practice of deep breathing: this is the fundamental strategy. You just need to inhale and exhale deeply. It is advisable that the inhalation is accompanied by a positive message and that the exhalation includes a sentence to expel the physical pain.
- Mindfulness practice: it consists of focusing on the pain. Then you have to focus on the way it occurs, trying not to interpret it, nor to refuse it but simply to observe it.
- Basic meditation: one must be attentive to the rhythm of the breath and follow it with the mind. We recommend that you think of a quiet place and wait for the image to freeze in your mind. If the distraction appears, the idea is to return to this previously fixed image
- Relaxation response: we simply have to implement this response during moments of pain that generate stress. It consists of performing a basic meditation in order to slow down the heart rate and relax the muscles.
Other important practices
To increase the degree of control over the sensations of physical pain, it is important to perform these actions, this time more directed outward than inward. It is always good to develop some kind of “relaxing and entertaining passion”. Going for a walk, tending to plants, painting or doing similar activities can be very helpful.
Reading is highly recommended. Indeed, it helps to increase the ability to concentrate. This will be very useful for better tolerating the pain. In addition, it helps to manage stress. Poetry can also be a great hobby in this case.
It is not good to be alone for long. Contact with others is a very positive stimulus. It is not recommended that you only use these links to discuss your physical problems. If you think this is something you need to talk about all the time, the best alternative is psychotherapy. Indeed, there, you will not saturate the relationship and you will also get the help of a professional.
Our thoughts Pain is an individual and subjective indicator that something is wrong inside our body. Let’s think about …
