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4 Mental Tricks to Relieve Pain

At Back to Life, we believe physical exercise is one of the most important components of healing.

However, our minds are also a powerful tool for pain relief.

In fact, when it comes to pain relief, the mind and the body work together inextricably.

So today we want to share 4 simple and easy mental tricks you can use to fight pain.

1. Fantasize About Food: This one made us chuckle when we first learned about it but man, it really works! A study out of the University of Wisconsin found that fantasizing about your favorite food can decrease feelings of pain. Pick your absolute favorite guilty pleasure food and imagine it’s smell, taste and texture as fully as you can.

P.S. Chocolate was found to be the top choice of research participants. We can’t imagine why!

2. Control Your Breath: Women have been using deep breathing as a pain relief technique during childbirth for decades and it works just as well for chronic pain. Try to take deep slow breaths through your nose that fill up your belly. This helps harness your parasympathetic nervous system and quiet the symptoms of arousal that tend to flare up with pain.

3. Use a Mantra: Repeating a mantra – usually a word or a phrase – can begin to dampen pain sensations in as little as 30 seconds. Focusing on a positive word or phrase has been shown to release your own endorphins. We recommend repeating the phrase “My body is always healing." Or you may want to simply repeat the words Peace or Love. Find something that resonates with you and try to repeat it to yourself for at least 30 seconds.

4. Try Visualization: We all have a special place where we feel at peace. Perhaps it’s your favorite vacation spot, a nice warm bath, or even a memory of your grandparent’s house when you were a child. Allow yourself a few moments to be transported to a place in your mind where you feel relaxed and nurtured. Even if you are simply imagining this, your body will respond to this mental shift.

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