Healthy, holistic solutions are available which address the needs of the whole person. As a complement to regular medical treatment, here are the Restorative Remedies Top 10 Secrets for a Pain-Free Life – Part 2 – powerful, easy-to-do tools and techniques for helping us achieve real reductions in our daily levels of chronic pain.
A pain-free life is not just a dream, but within reach for many of us!
Restorative Remedies Top 10 Secrets for a Pain-Free Life – Part 1
6. Regular Moderate Exercise
Here’s another Secret everyone already knows they “should” be doing. But most of us just don’t seem to get around to making this important Secret part of our regular routine.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends 30 minutes of moderate exercise 5 times a week.16 This amount of exercise provides remarkable benefits, including improved cardiovascular health as well as reducing the pain of chronic disease.
Exercise causes your brain to produce endorphins. These “feel-good” biochemicals have two potent benefits – they’re natural pain-killers and they’re natural mood elevators. The “runner’s high” is real. But you don’t have to be a runner to reap the rewards.
Scientific research shows that people can get all the important benefits of exercise from walking 30 minutes per day, five times a week. If you haven’t exercised in a while start slowly – and gradually build-up to 30 minutes per day. If necessary, make sure to get your doctor’s guidance and advice.
Here’s more great news – it’s not necessary to do 30 minutes all at once. Several short bursts of activity have been shown to be of equal benefit. So you could walk for 10 minutes in the morning, 10 minutes at lunch, and 10 minutes at the end of the day.
Develop a routine that works for you. The key is to get a total of 30 minutes of exercise on most days of the week.17,18
7. Get Enough Rest
Let’s face it – there’s never enough hours in the day. Each of us only gets 24 hours – and it’s so easy to push those 24 hours to the limit. What often gets lost in the daily race to get everything done is setting aside enough time for our bodies to rest and recuperate.
Getting enough sleep is the most important regenerative tool we have.19-21 While we sleep, our metabolic clean-up crews get us ready for the activities of the next day. Sufficient sleep helps reduce inflammation, restores energy to muscles, and strengthens the heart. Much of the pain of chronic disease is made worse by missing out on these natural-healing opportunities.
Make plans to get at least 7 hours of sleep every night. You’ll notice the benefits almost immediately. And, you’ll have more energy to get things done efficiently and effectively, leaving enough time to get the rest you need.
8. Visualize
Visualize the powerful results you want in your life. Professional athletes – dancers, gymnasts, figure skaters, football players, and baseball players – all use this remarkable tool to achieve peak performance.22,23 You can use it, too.
Why do they do it? Extensive research and experience have proven that visualization is a powerful form of preparation. Your mind and your body cannot tell the difference between the imagined activity and the real thing. Visualization is your personal virtual reality – always on and always available.24
Visualize your body as whole, well, and pain-free. Visualize your body as healthy and strong. Visualize your body the way you want it to be. Over time, your body will transform.
9. Quiet Time
Be good to yourself. Set aside at least 10 minutes each day to settle down and wind down. This quiet time will significantly lower the impact of stress on your body, reducing inflammation and reducing chronic pain.
We all have stress – it’s part of living in the real world. And yet, our response to stress is the key. Study after study has shown that stress is a critical factor in the development and severity of symptoms of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and inflammatory arthritis. How successfully we manage the stress in our lives often determines whether we’re healthy and well or suffering with various physical problems.25-27
Sitting quietly with no distractions may not be the easiest thing to do at first. But the benefits are profound, and you’ll soon find you’re eagerly looking forward to each day’s quiet time.
10. Train Your Brain
When we’re engaged and involved, we’re less focused on pain. And, this reduced focus allows our muscles and joints to relax and loosen up, further decreasing our levels of pain.
Be proactive – actively seek out new interests and opportunities to expand your horizons.28-30 Learning photography, learning a new language, or taking a class in literature or world history are a few examples of activities that can engage your whole self. Taking on new challenges provides real personal satisfaction and increasing self-esteem. Your focus and attention shift away from chronic pain and toward what is actually inspiring you.
New pursuits can result in more fun and enjoyment – and reduced levels of daily pain.
11. BONUS: Make Sure You’re Handling the Big Problems
Prevention – so critical in cancer – is also the key to forestalling development of almost every other chronic disease. Be sure to schedule your annual check-ups. See your family doctor and/or gynecologist regularly. Get the medical information you need to prevent and manage problems before they become bigger problems.
Getting better is a process. Taken individually, the Restorative Remedies Top Ten Secrets for a Pain-Free Life are key pieces in solving the puzzle of chronic pain. Taken together, the Top Ten Secrets provide a powerful toolkit for reducing and resolving chronic pain patterns.
Please visit the Restorative Remedies website and online store. The Restorative Remedies Personal Supplement Advisor will help you learn more about our natural high-quality, high-potency remedies for chronic pain.
References
16U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. Washington, DC, DHHS, 2008.
17Vallance JK, et al: Maintenance of physical activity in breast cancer survivors after a randomized trial. Med Sci Sports Exerc 40(1):173-180, 2008
18Heckman GE, McKelvie RS: Cardiovascular aging and exercise in healthy older adults. Clin J Sport Med 18(6):479-485, 2008
19Goldman SE, et al: Poor sleep is associated with poorer physical performance and greater functional limitations in older women. Sleep 30(10):1317-1324, 2007
20Parish JM: Sleep-related problems in common medical conditions. Chest 135(2):563-572, 2009
21Richardson GS: Human physiological models of insomnia. Sleep Med 8(Suppl 4):S9-S14, 2007
22Todd, ME: The Thinking Body. Princeton, NJ, Princeton Book Company, 1980
23Eckel S: Learning how to walk. The New York Times, November 11th, 2008
24Gawain S: Creative Visualization: Use the Power of Your Imagination to Create What You Want In Your Life. New World Library, 2008
25Walton KG, et al. Psychosocial stress and cardiovascular disease. Effectiveness of the Transcendental Meditation program in treatment and prevention. Behav Med 28(3):106-123, 2002
26Grant JA, Rainville P: Pain sensitivity and analgesic effects of mindful states in Zen meditators: a cross-sectional study. Psychosom Med 71(1):106-114, 2009
27Appel LJ, et al: Effects of comprehensive lifestyle modification on blood pressure control: main results of the PREMIER clinical trial. JAMA 289(16):2083-2093, 2003
28Rocchiccioli JT, Sanford JT: Revisiting geriatric failure to thrive: a complex and compelling clinical condition. J Gerontol Nurs 35(1):18-24, 2009
29Rozema H, et al: The role of illness representations in coping and health of patients treated for breast cancer. Psychooncology, December 10, 2008
3020Ax S, et al: Coping and illness cognitions: chronic fatigue syndrome. Clin Psychol Rev 21(2):161-182, 2001
Technorati Tags: Add new tag, Anti-aging, Anti-oxidants, cardiovascular disease, chronic inflammatory disease, Gluten Intolerance, inflammatory arthritis, Lifestyle Medicine
