Their findings have huge implications for those struggling withchronic painand anyone who wants to build their resilience.
Can exercise increase pain tolerance?
How’d they do that?
Each participant submerged their hand in freezing cold ice water and then ranked their pain on a scale.
Researchers measured pain tolerance two times across eight years.
In the end, participants that reported a moreactive lifestyleranked the pain of the icy water lower.
Implications for chronic pain
This study suggests that exercise may be a helpful strategy for managingchronic pain.
Unfortunately, existing treatments can be dangerous, addictive, andnot even that effective3for chronic pain.
This study showed that both light and high-intensity exercise is associated with higher pain tolerance.
So you don’t have to suffer through CrossFit every day or train for a marathon to see benefits.
you could try something low-intensity like walking or stretching.
Turmeric
The main compound in turmeric root, called curcumin, is a superstar ingredients.
It has a long, long list of benefits (here areeight benefits of turmeric to read up on!
), but one of the best studied is for chronic pain.
Want to try turmeric for yourself but don’t know where to start?
Fear not; we’ve done the legwork for you.
Studiessuggest5acupuncture may modestly help with low-back pain, headaches, migraine prevention, and myofascial pain.
Feeling inspired to double down on your exercise routine?
Check out ourguide to strength training.
