Pain Relief Through Love

Oxytocin is the hormone of attachment and closeness. It lowers cortisol levels, reduces anxiety, and directly decreases pain perception by altering the state of the nervous system.

20 seconds of hugging is the minimum for oxytocin to start working. But it’s not only about hugging. Petting a cat, looking at your child’s baby photo album, or watching your wedding video. The main thing is to feel a surge of tenderness.

Pain Relief Through Achievement

To activate this substance, you need to get yourself into the state: “Who’s the good one? I’m the good one.”

Any completed task triggers dopamine. It doesn’t have to be a feat. A washed cup or a finished article works too. Trying to chase great achievements, we often fall into the trap of perfectionism.

But for a dopamine boost, just ticking off a checklist item is enough. Here the method of small steps helps. If you break down “cleaning the kitchen” into:

• Washing the dishes
• Wiping the table
• Cleaning the stove

You can turn one not-so-pleasant task into three dopamine injections.

Dopamine raises the pain threshold and restores the feeling of control over your life. And that is worth its weight in gold for chronic pain.

Pain Relief Through Joy

Dancing to your favorite music. The key words here are all: “dance,” “favorite,” and “music.” A triple endorphin hit.

Endorphins are called “natural opioids” – they work on the same receptors as painkillers. Only without side effects and addiction.

15 minutes is enough. You can do it in pajamas in the kitchen without opening sleepy eyes.

Also, laughter increases endorphins. Especially the kind without a reason. It turns out it’s not a sign of what we were scared of as children, but quite the opposite – a sign of a healthy hormonal balance and good resistance to pain.

Pain Relief Through Energy

We are used to thinking of cortisol as the “stress hormone.” But if it works properly, it rather plays the role of the hormone of alertness.

For cortisol to work for us and not against us, it should rise in the morning and gradually decrease by evening (not the other way around, as with most modern people).

And achieving this is quite simple: morning light + protein-fat breakfast.

Go out to the balcony or garden. Sit down. Feel the sun on your face. Let the morning be kind.

Pain Relief Through Trust

Serotonin is not just the “happiness hormone” as it is often called. It reduces reactions to negative stimuli, including pain signals, lowers background anxiety, removes the feeling of threat, and creates resilience and stability.

One way to increase serotonin is the feeling of belonging to your “pack”: a group of close ones who love and accept you.

Also – good memories. The brain is not very good at distinguishing reality from fantasy. So, if there’s not much reason to be happy now, remember the times when there were.

Pain Relief Through Sleep

What, you’re buried in your phone again? What haven’t you seen there during the day? Evening has come.

Imagine this picture: the soft light of a floor lamp, you sitting in a chair, knees pulled up, a warm soft blanket soothing your soul. In your hands, fragrant tea in a beautiful cup.

Let the whole world wait. The body receives the signal: I am safe. The nervous system switches to parasympathetic mode and turns down the volume of pain.

The brain loves predictability. If the evening cup of tea with a blanket under the floor lamp becomes part of a daily ritual, the brain will remember that this cozy state is a signal to reduce cortisol and increase melatonin.