5 Surprising Ways to Cope With Pain

Unfortunately, chronic pain is dealt with by millions. Even though they have a prescription medication to help, often those pills simply don’t cut it.

People look to other ways to help manage their pain levels and many have found surprising ways that successfully helped them cope.

If you’ve been looking for better ways to cope with your chronic pain, these five tactics just might work for you.

1. Be Active

It may sound like you’re asking a lot of yourself to exercise when you face pain regularly but science proves that being active does help manage chronic pain.

Exercise helps you feel less pain in two powerful ways. The first is by the release of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. These endorphins help to increase your overall state of being. 

The second one is by reducing inflammation. Chronic pain in many instances is worsened or even caused by inflammation. With regular exercise, you can help minimize this contributing factor. 

2. Take a Supplement

Along with your pain medication, you can take natural supplements that will help you minimize your pain. 

A good example of this is CBD oil. CBD has been shown to help manage pain levels by interacting with the endocannabinoid receptors in the brain and also by reducing inflammation. 

A few other good supplements to try are fish oil, turmeric, and devil’s claw root. Each of these supplements has had positive effects on the pain of those who regularly take them. 

3. Meditate

Chronic pain is a physically and emotionally exhausting condition. Some ways to cope with pain involve the emotional side of your pain. Meditation is one of those coping skills.

When you meditate, you are relieving your body of stress which can cause tension in the muscles, anxiety, and depression. All three of the symptoms of stress listed can exacerbate pain.

By relieving some of the emotional turmoil that comes with pain, you can more easily deal with the physical aspects. 

Meditation may not come easily to some of us, but one thing that helps is to go to a quiet place by yourself. This will allow you to overcome the awkwardness that might come with meditation for the first time.

There are many different apps that you can use to help you learn and stay focused on your mindfulness meditation. 

A popular one is Headspace. This app gives you a basic knowledge base but also gives you guided meditation sessions. 

4. Distraction

Sometimes the best way to deal with pain is to act like it’s not there.  Distractions can get your mind off of it, or at least make it less severe. 

Finding ways to get your mind otherwise engaged and stimulated can help your nerves and pain receptors have less room to enter the brain. It’s important that you choose healthy distractions, of course.

A few good examples are playing with a pet, reading a riveting book, watching a funny movie, or getting out in nature.

5. Go to Bed

Another way that people deal with pain is to sleep it off. When your pain levels get extremely high, sometimes it’s best to go into dream mode. 

Studies show that restorative sleep helps to lessen pain sensations. 

There is another way you can use your bed to relieve pain, and this would involve a significant other.

Sexual touch is shown to reduce the effects of pain. The same endorphins that give you benefits when released during exercise which are the bodies natural pain killers,  are also released during sex, especially if you orgasm.

Sex also helps you feel more positive and loved, which can help to relieve some of the emotional pain that often is interlinked with chronic physical pain.

It can be hard to get “in the mood” when you are in pain but if you take some steps to create a sensual bedroom and let your partner know your intentions, the sparks will fly on their own. 

Conclusion

Aside from popping a pill, you can take back a little of your life by incorporating some habitual pain management. Different tactics work for different people so try them all and find the one right for you.