The next time you’re looking for pain relief, try a little distraction. A recent study published in Current Biology found that mental distractions actually block pain signals from the body before they ever reach the brain.
“Human brains have a limited capacity for attention. If you have a demanding enough task, you’ll have less attention to give to your pain,” explains Dr. Randy Gollub, associate professor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
Researchers found that challenging participants with memory games did more than just divert conscious attention from the body’s pain messages; the distractions may have actually released natural painkillers that blocked the incoming pain signals as they entered the spinal cord.
But you don’t have to play memory games to get the same effect. Dr. Gollub says you can use anything that brings you great pleasure.
“Think about experiences when you’ve done something so pleasurable or meaningful that there was a moment where you were distracted from your pain, and then do more of that activity. Maybe it’s a visit with the grandkids or watching a favorite program.”
You don’t have to limit your distractions to just one activity, either.
“Using your brain to do more things that are rewarding tips the balance away from the negative aspects. The point is that you don’t want to live your pain all the time; you want to live your life,” says Gollub.
– Harvard Health Letters
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