Scanning your phone for loving faces before an uncomfortable test like a mammogramme may make the pain of the test bearable. Women who viewed pictures of their partners during a lab test reported less pain than those who looked at inanimate objects or strangers. A loving face may spur the release of chemicals that shut down pain-processing areas of the brain.
Drum up a steamy fantasy
Let your mind wander to a sexy encounter to offset acute aches and pains. In one Johns Hopkins study, participants could withstand more pain and experienced less anxiety during a lab experiment when their minds meandered to something sexual, compared with other people who thought about more vanilla topics. Such fantasy distracts you from the pain, and it also reduces anxiety and relaxes you, says study coauthor Hamid Hekmat, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin
Take deep, slow breaths
Are you a wimp about flu shots? Before your next skin prick, start using your yoga breaths. Women whose breathing rates slowed by half reported significantly less discomfort during a pain-inducing experiment. Measured breathing helps deactivate your body’s fight-or-flight response to pain. It can also be a good distraction—something women who’ve given birth know well!
Meditate a little every day
Wind down before bed with a few minutes of calm. People who meditate regularly have thicker areas of the cortex, a part of the brain that affects pain sensitivity, than those who don’t, finds Canadian research. A few days of practice may be enough to boost pain tolerance.
Prevention.com
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