10 Interesting Facts About Pain

1. Morning pain is more commonly found in people with inflammatory conditions, including migraine, rheumatoid arthritis, and toothache. But people experiencing neuropathic pain, as in postherpetic neuralgia, diabetic neuropathy, or cancer are more likely to have worse pain in the evening or at night.

2. The healthcare industry is a 9 trillion dollar market, a large portion of which involves fixing and managing pain of all different types.

3. Pain tolerance is a real thing, some people can just take more pain and not have as much of a problem with it. Interestingly, red headed people have been proven to have a genetically lower pain tolerance.

4. People who have pain insensitivities can't feel pain and frequently get injured and die sooner. So, yes, pain is good for you in many ways.

5. High carb, high processed oil, and high sugar diets increase pain by increasing body inflammation.

6. Rubbing a painful area helps distract your mind from the pain by giving it a different stimullus to interpret.

7. Working with point #3, you can actually learn to feel less pain with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This therapy gives you tools to frame pain in a different way and empower you to work to change your behavior and habits. Cold showers/exposure is a form of CBT that everyone can do. Music therapy (listening to music) is also beneficial.

8. If you think you've got pain now, the future doesn't look good for you: over 80% of people over 80 years old report severe chronic pain.

9. Those who eat a healthy diet and regularly exercise report less pain with fewer to no underlying chronic conditions.

10. Increased screen time (TV, phone, computer, etc) has been linked with increased physical and emotional pain and stress and lowered pain tolerance with more sedentary injuries and muscle imbalances.