#masculinity #selfimprovement #motivation Time Code: 0:00 - 3:29 - Story 1 3:30 - 5:08 - Story 2 5:09 - 8:20 - Pain Catastrophizing & Psychotherapy The brain plays a significant role in chronic pain. You may have heard of the “fight or flight” response—this is when your body reacts to danger by releasing adrenaline and cortisol into your bloodstream, which causes changes in how you feel. When you experience chronic pain, your brain can be tricked into thinking it’s under attack. This can lead to a stress response that triggers more nerve fibers around the area of pain. The result is more pain signals being sent out. Stress and worry can also increase the level of pain you feel. This is because your body’s responses to stress are triggered by the same parts of your brain that process short-term pain signals, so when you’re feeling stressed, your nervous system will react in a similar way to having an intense flare up on your back or leg—even if it’s not experiencing any actual physical damage. Stress makes it harder to sleep because our bodies produce higher cortisol levels when we’re anxious or worried. This hormone makes us feel energized, increases inflammation and makes us more susceptible to chronic conditions like heart disease. It also puts extra pressure on our immune systems, which makes them less effective at fighting infections and causes other conditions such as asthma flare ups due to airway constriction induced by increased mucus production (which happens when there aren’t enough antioxidants available). Your attitude toward your chronic pain can significantly affect how you cope, manage and live with it. For example, An optimistic person will be more likely to find ways to cope with their condition than someone who’s pessimistic or frustrated by how things are going for them. If you’re feeling down about your situation, think about what’s good about it—the fact that at least there is some activity going on in your life (even if it seems limited). And remember not everyone has access to treatment options like physical therapy or massage therapy; even though these may seem like luxuries right now, they could become necessities later on down the road if something else happens! Research Links: 1)https://journals.lww.com/pain/Abstract/1998/09000/Catastrophizing,_pain,_and_disability_in_patients.4.aspx 2) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00296-021-05070-4 3) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35311481/ 4) https://www.dovepress.com/a-systematic-review-of-structural-and-functional-mri-studies-on-pain-c-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-JPR 5) https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2784694