Pain is common, it is normal. Up to 20% of humans experience pain that has persisted for more than three months. Ongoing pain is more common in women than men, and the numbers top 50% for women in midlife. Studies suggest mindfulness for pain can help.
Pain is your body’s most effective protection mechanism because it is so unpleasant, it is hard to ignore. Some pain has a clear cause – you know what you have done, you have the scars to show for it, and the tissue damage (and the pain) will usually resolve in a set time. But some pains come seemingly from nowhere, can spread, change sides, start, stop, and vary from mild to debilitating.
While damage to tissues can be the origin of your pain, symptoms can also arise from activity in your brain and spinal cord. Pain arises because your brain is convinced that your body needs protecting.
For midlife women, there are a range of factors which can make joint pain more likely:
- Falling oestrogen levels appear to increase propensity towards joint pain
- Dehydration (again more likely as oestrogen falls) can make joints vulnerable
- Weight gain – a common occurrence in mid life, which can increase pressure on joints and also leads to more general raised inflammation, which can then increase sensitivity in the spine and brain
- Stress and anxiety – common during the peri- and menopause, can create hyper-vigilance in the nervous system, making it more sensitive to pain
- Depression and persistent pain are correlated, although the connection between the two is unclear. Sensory pathways for injury share connections with brain regions involved in mood management
- Insomnia and fatigue are known to contribute to increased pain sensitivity, and both are also common peri- and menopause symptoms.
Mindfulness for pain: how it helps
Mindfulness helps you learn to watch yourself thinking, and to develop an insight into your own mind, that helps you be a better friend to yourself. Some of the ways mindfulness can help with pain include:
- Increased acceptance – mindfulness helps promote awareness of difficult sensations and can help you direct your attention to steps you can take. It can increase your ability to self-care effectively.
- Addressing anxiety, stress, and depression – mindfulness meditation is a recommended approach to help deal with related conditions which can make pain worse. For example, the longer you have had pain, the more anxious you might become about everyday activities, and about your future capacity. This can lead to ruminative thinking, which increases vigilance in the nervous system, which in turn can keep your pain sensitivity high.
- Reducing the emotional component of pain – with any pain there are two aspects, the actual physical sensation, and what your beliefs, attitudes, knowledge and past experience tell you. The emotional component can increase pain (if it signals danger) or reduce it (if it signals safety). Research suggests mindfulness for pain can help modify brain activity associated with emotional regulation.
Self care for pain
Mindfulness meditation can help you gain a fresh perspective, feel better equipped to cope, seek new opportunities, and recognise valuable changes more easily. Try The Compassionate Self practice as a starting point.
Other ways to support yourself include:
- Hydrate – oestrogen levels falling makes it more difficult for midlife women to stay hydrated. One of the easier ways is to address this is to keep a litre bottle of water with you, then you know how much you have drunk. Try to consume a couple of litres a day, up to 30ml per kg of body weight. Adjust according to physical activity and temperature.
- Movement – whatever you enjoy and can do easily, you are more likely to stick to. Walking, swimming, yoga, running, weights, dancing. Ideally a combination of some cardio, some stretching and some strengthening. This can be hard to start with, as it is common to feel anxious that you will overdo things and make pain worse. In fact, lack of physical activity is more likely to worsen pain in the long term. Start gently, aim to do a little one day, a little more the next. Build up at your own pace.
- Know your DIMs and SIMs. DIMs are Danger In Me signs, SIMs are Safety In Me signs. They will not be the same for everyone. DIMs can include medical tests and hospital visits, beliefs such as ‘pain is forever’, and stopping doing activities you enjoy. SIMs can include learning about pain so you can understand what is happening, working with an up-to-date healthcare professional who you have confidence in, any exercise or therapy where you feel good. Do more of the SIMs and try to avoid the DIMs.
- Other therapies – acupuncture, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), hypnosis, Chiropractic, Tai Chi and Yoga may all help.
- Good social support – having friends, family, colleagues around can help. As can playing an active part in your community, helping others, and having access to care when you need it.
There is no one size fits all. Be patient with yourself. Mindfulness for pain is not a magic wand, but small steps taken consistently over time can yield big outcomes. Take care of yourself and always seek medical or professional advice if you are unsure what is right for you. Try the meditation below to help.
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