New findings offer hope for chronic pain sufferers
No one wants to hurt all the time. But for millions of people, pain is a daily companion—often invisible and heartbreakingly persistent. It’s not just about sore joints or aching muscles. It’s about exhaustion that changes how you move through your day, how you sleep, how you think, how you live.
But a new study out of Australia is offering something that many people in pain haven’t felt in a long time: relief and hope. Not just in the body, but in the mind. Researchers found that retraining the brain to respond differently to stress and emotion using mindfulness, support, and simple tools helped ease pain, improve sleep, and restore energy.
It’s early research, but the results are promising. And if you, or someone you know, have been stuck in the loop of pain, stress, and more pain, you’ll find this New Atlas article worth reading.
Slipstream
I hope this study gets more traction and used on a wider scale. I know there are a lot of people out there who suffer silently every day. This is definitely positive news for them.
Well Street
Sadly, business is very good for pain management doctors, but the results of this small study using brain power are encouraging.
This reminds me of a 1967 experiment on visualization. 3 groups of non-basketball playing students shot free throws and had their scores recorded. For the next 20 days:
Group 1 practiced free throws for 20 minutes daily;
Group 2 did nothing, and
Group 3 visualized shooting perfect free throws just once daily with no real practice.
After 20 days:
Group 1 improved 24%;
Group 2 didn't improve, and
Group 3 improved 23%.
The power of the mind!
Slipstream
If they knew it in 1967... what's taken so long to get us to accept the mind is the most powerful gift we have. Using our minds as they're supposed to be used shrinks our need for drugs, and that's bad for the drug business.
Wilsons Grave
You're right. What you see is what you get (or learn about), and in our daily lives it's tons of tantalizing product advertising that's in our face, not science about the power of the mind. Consumers are like little fish swimming around for something tasty to bite on, and we get hooked on all the latest gossip or news about how bad things are, or news about how great all these new products are which will fix us. So off we go to the store to get our share. In the 60s you'd have had to shell out some big bucks for a Swami or EST workshop to learn about the power of the mind...which all takes serious practice, lots of it before you can see the results. So I get why the quick fix of pills are still the go-to.
Slipstream
Quick fixes often get us into trouble. Better to stay away if at all possible, and do the hard work that will pay many more benefits.