Pain is a type of signal sent by the human nervous system to the brain to inform people of potential sources of harm. Since pain is such an urgent type of feeling that makes us get up and move, it can get in the way of us living our lives how we want to. Although this isn’t the same as seeking assistance from licensed pain management physicians for your chronic pain, these five simple tricks can readily be used to distract yourself from ongoing pain.
1. Do Something, If Possible
Thinking about the negative aspects of your life without taking action will rarely do anything to solve the problem. You should get out and exercise or engage yourself in conversation with friends, for example, and challenge yourself not to think about the places that hurt the most on your body. Do so has been shown to make pain levels that much lower in a recent study’s subjects.
2. Don’t Retrigger Negative Thoughts
The more we talk about bad things, the more we think that they were worse than what they actually were. Thoughts only last a few seconds. If you refrain from believing in negative thoughts and retriggering them repeatedly, they quickly fade into obscurity. Think about it: where do thoughts go once they pass?
Obviously, a thought linked to a physical nuisance is more difficult to let go of. With practice, however, it’s still possible to stay in control where you focus your attention, even under high levels of stress and pain.
3. Practice Mindfulness
Meditation is a great way to avoid being carried away by your thoughts. Practicing mindfulness is an effective means of distracting yourself from your current moderate to high levels of pain. It helps if you already have a major share of experience in the practice of meditation, though it’s still possible to reduce your current pain levels with meditation – it’s just about the best distraction out there.
4. Maintain Healthy Habits
Exercising regularly, eating right, maintaining consistently-low stress levels, and otherwise leading a healthy lifestyle is a great preventative means of lowering pain levels. However, the more you think about your pain levels dropping due to actually doing things about your situation, the more you’ll feel like they legitimately dropped.
5. Avoid Unhealthy Foods
Drinking caffeine is a major step backward on your journey of learning how to distract yourself. Stimulants make it harder to meditate and also cause inflammation, making it harder to ignore the pain by the virtue of inflicting more.
The best distraction on the path of learning how to distract yourself is not eating right. Avoid foods with sugar, especially added sugar, and try not to consume alcohol.
Get in touch with Absolute Life Wellness Center in Austin, Texas for chronic pain management.