There are many things that cause us stress. It could be related to our careers, family, social relationships, our fears, our thoughts that provoke unease, finances, feeling a decreased sense of self or purpose in life, or feeling there is no way to escape pain because we have tried so many things already! The list is endless. Reality is, stress is a part of life – and truthfully, it can be beneficial! The issue is that unmanaged stress activates our sympathetic nervous system, or “fight, flight or fright” response. Our heart rate and breathing rate increase, and the body secretes stress hormones. It doesn’t give our body a chance to unwind, and heal. If this response is triggered frequently, it becomes more easily activated over time. It leads to decreased emotional regulation, difficulty sleeping, low energy, cognitive difficulty, and even makes our body more sensitive. This can result in more pain, or pain that is more easily triggered.
Learning about strategies to manage stress is essential to helping chronic pain. Changing how we think about stress is a good start. When we are stressed, the hormone oxytocin is released. Although it is a stress hormone, it also triggers us to seek out social connection which produces a calming effect, and sometimes even brings us feelings of joy or gratitude! Take a moment to think about all the times we felt very stressed, and phoned a friend or asked for advice from others, just to talk things through. If we perceive our stress response as helpful instead of harmful, it would decrease our sympathetic nervous system response.
Think of it like pain – we have learned that pain is a danger signal and not a harmful signal. Likewise, think of stress as a friendly signal to let you know you may need to seek out help, or have more time for self-care.
Using mindfulness techniques is a healthy way to approach stress management.
Stress is part of life, but how we manage stress is what matters most.
Against All Pains 