How Can You Cope Up With Chronic Pain?
Due to the unhealthy foods we eat and the sedentary lifestyle we have nowadays, it’s no wonder that we’re starting to reap what we sow. Prolonged periods of sitting without moving our body (and exercising at all), causes our muscles to become stiff because they aren’t stretched for a while. Aside from that, your muscles are put under stress and pressure for being unable to move for a long time. Eventually, it weakens your muscles’ capability, leading to inflammation on some parts of your body like back pain.
Not only these pains stop us from doing our work but they can be uncomfortable too. In some cases, we find ourselves unable to move at all because the pain is excruciating. No matter how many times we take pain medication, it seems as pain is always coming back and sometimes it lasts for weeks, months, and even years. How can we remedy ourselves from chronic pain? How can we make it go away? Here’s what you can do to cope up with it.
Women are more prone to chronic pain than men.
Just in the United States alone, around 100 million people are already dealing and living with chronic pain. Also, one in every ten persons has experienced pain every day for about one-three months maximum. The most common types of chronic pain people experience are:
- 27% lower back pain
- 15a % headache and migraine
- 15% neck pain
- 4% facial pain
It’s alarming to discover that aside from the serious illnesses, dealing with chronic pain also tops as the number one cause of long-term disability and paralysis in the United States. Statistics also showed that women are more prone to experience chronic pain ranging from severe headaches, migraine, and facial pain than men. If you’re one of these challenged patients who deal with chronic pain, here are the things you should do to ease your discomfort.
Ways to Cope up with Chronic Pain
Drink at least 8 glasses of water to stay hydrated.
Fortunately, some of the chronic pain you’re experiencing can be remedied using only natural and inexpensive ingredients. For example, the headache you’re experiencing is usually caused by dehydration. Did you know that when you’re dehydrated, your blood can’t supply water to your brain? And if this happens, your brain size will shrink because of the lack of water. This will trigger your headache because your shrank brain will pull away to your skeleton. So if a throbbing headache strikes you, try to drink lots of water first and close your eyes and rest for a few minutes. If you find your headache fading away, then that’s great. Make sure to stay hydrated in order to lessen your risks of recurring headaches.
Avoid eating processed foods and stick to healthy ones.
Processed foods such as French fries, fried chicken, burgers, and spaghetti are rich in oils and trans fats. Apparently, these processed foods are the culprit of inflammation in your body. When a part of your body is inflamed, you’re most likely to experience pain. If left untreated, this inflammation can trigger serious illnesses like heart disease and stroke. In order to alleviate inflammation, we suggest you stuff your diet with leafy green vegetables, omega 3-fatty acids or healthy fats such as almonds, nuts, avocado, and fruits to also help stabilize your blood sugar.
Turmeric contains powerful anti-inflammatory properties that help ease your chronic pain.
One superfood which also contains strong anti-inflammatory properties is turmeric. This brightly-colored spice is known to remedy several medical conditions and one of them is the chronic pain. It helps ease the inflammation of your body thanks to its curcumin ingredient. What’s great about Turmeric is that it doesn’t harm your kidney or liver so it’s safe to consume it. It also increases your ligament flexibility, boosts your immune system, and aid in weight loss too. You can scoop 1 spoon of turmeric and add it to your morning drink, water, or even your meal. Turmeric is also volatile so you can add it to your diet with ease.
Just by walking with your dog, you can help ease the tensions on your muscles and prevent chronic pain.
Since you’re always sitting for longer periods of time, it’s time for you to get your body moving. And before you complain that you simply don’t have time to work out, think again. Did you know that just by parking your car in the farthest space and walking to and from your company can help you burn calories already? Or taking the stairs instead of elevators? These may be little things with no significant value but trust us when we say that it’ll help you in the long run. We suggest you take 30 minutes’ walk as you go to and from the office. You’ll start noticing the changes in no time.
Source: Read Full Article