Here are some tips for managing chronic pain:
1. Practice Deep Breathing and Meditation
Practicing deep breathing and meditation can help your body relax. This can help release the tension and tightness in our muscles. These techniques can also help with your mental health, as suffering from chronic pain can damage your overall wellness.
2. Take up hobbies that help reduce your stress
Stress can intensify chronic pain. In addition, stress can have a negative impact on your mental health. Feelings like depression and anxiety can increase when you are stressed. Finding something that interests you and keeps you motivated such as swimming or joining a book club can help alleviate some stress and in turn help with your chronic pain.
3. Join a Chronic Pain Support Group
Many of those who are suffering from chronic feel like there is no one who can understand what they are feeling. Learning about other people’s experiences and hardships can help you feel like you are not alone. In addition, you can learn about how others have learned to cope with chronic pain. By learning about different experiences, you open yourself up to new alternatives to dealing with pain that can be considered.
4. Live a Healthy Lifestyle
Regular physical activity and eating healthy can help with chronic pain. Eating right can reduce heart disease risk, maintain a healthy weight, improve blood sugar levels, and help your digestive process. Following an injury, it is important to rest and limit the pressure you put on the injured part of your body. However, too much resting can make your pain worse, it is just as important to exercise. Regular physical activity helps build muscle, improve flexibility and strength. This can help ease your long-term pain. In addition, physical activity can cause for the release of endorphins, the body’s natural pain reliever. Low impact sports are activities that you can perform without putting too much pressure on your joints. Examples of such sports include swimming, biking, yoga and walking.
5. Avoid Smoking
Smoking can worsen your pain; it also puts you at risk of heart disease and cancer.
