Employ these techniques to experience relief:

1. Stress Management. Stress stimulates the Sympathetic Nervous System, making us want to fight, flight, or freeze. Being in the sympathetic state for an extended period increases chronic pain, making it more difficult to manage. Unfortunately, our busy modern lifestyle tends to be constantly stressful. As a result, it is important to relax and reduce stress to get a handle on pain naturally. Try the suggestions below to see which ones work the best for you.   

• Yoga and meditation are two stress-reduction strategies that support stress management.
• Mini Brain Breaks throughout the day can also reduce stress and instill feelings of calm.

2. Focused Breathing. By focusing on your breath, you can relax your muscles and ease pain naturally. Deep, slow, closed mouth breathing exercises can reduce sympathetic activation which results in a reduction of blood pressure, stress, heart rate, and PAIN.

3. Find your FUN focus. Focus is everything when trying to ease pain naturally. If a race car driver loses control of his vehicle, he focuses on where he wants to go, not on what he may crash into! Instead of concentrating on your pain, try FUN distractions that help you change your focus. 

• Engage in YOUR favorite hobbies and activities. Reconnect with what makes you happy. Things like gardening, watching good movies, or reading interesting books can help. Other ideas include drawing, painting, pottery, cooking, talking to a friend on the phone, and journaling. Ideas are limited only by your willingness to explore what makes you happy. Whatever activity you choose, make sure it pleases you so you can change your focus, fill your time, release some “happy hormones,” and avoid thinking about the pain.

4. Drink more water. Cellular communication and detoxification are highly dependent on having plump, happy, hydrated cells. If cell walls cannot touch, systemic function becomes impaired. Systemic functions ranging from neural conduction to digestive output can be impacted. As a result, dehydration can make chronic pain worse.

5. Learn about inflammatory foods. Inflammation is at the root of most illness and contributes to chronic pain. Unfortunately, food choices contribute to inflammation at a cellular level. Deep rooted cellular inflammation expresses itself in many ways, including chronic pain of the joints, the muscles, the nervous system, and the digestive system.  As a basic rule of thumb, avoiding fast food, processed food, sugar, salt, and alcohol will decrease the level of inflammation, thus chronic pain will also decrease. Since each person is bio-individual, tracking response to gluten, dairy, corn, and soy are also valuable in developing an individualized dietary plan to decrease the inflammatory response to food.

6. Add more anti-inflammatory food… and antioxidants. Ingesting nuts, leafy greens, fatty fish, berries, avocados, and polyphenol supplements can help combat the inflammatory process and natural pain relief at the cellular level and ease pain naturally.

7. Improve posture. Did you know that sitting is the new smoking? Posture is a major contributor to our overall health. Since sitting is such a large part of modern life, changing postural habits can drastically reduce the stress on your back and cut down on chronic pain.

Consider the way you sit and stand. Avoid “Text Neck” by keeping your ears over your shoulders, your shoulders over your ribs, and your ribs over your hips. Experts have shown that slumping your shoulders and lowering your head decreases circulation to the brain and throughout the body. No oxygen equates to more pain.

8. Talk about it. Reach out to your favorite modern and alternative health professionals for guidance and support. The American Psychological Association has found that talking about your health can reduce pain. Additionally, learning a greater variety of health care and self-care techniques for natural pain relief offers a greater variability in approach and greater potential for success in management of chronic pain. It is possible to find a synergy that works for you! denise@kuhntastichealth.com

9. Get a massage. Honestly, do I have to twist your arm? Massages are awesome! Taking the time out to stop, breathe, and employ this type of self-care can reduce chronic pain by loosening tight muscles, improving circulation, improving lymphatic flow, and improving the mind-body connection.

• Massages help reduce muscle tension, somatic (body) pain, anxiety, stress, arthritic pain and more. It can also help with improving balance, cardiovascular health, blood pressure control, migraine symptoms, and overall health.

10. Seek support. Health experts recommend finding support groups that focus on chronic pain. These groups give you the chance to meet others who suffer from chronic pain. One-on-one coaching is an additional option for those who do not enjoy group settings.

• Groups can offer advice and tips for managing pain. They can also provide doctor and clinic reviews or recommendations. Since chronic pain is linked to anxiety and depression, the social aspect of a support group can provide emotional comfort while providing coping strategies and techniques needed to deal with pain and its side effects

• In person support groups are informal and highly personal, while online groups offer privacy and anonymity, so you can feel comfortable sharing your experience.

• One-on-one coaching is ideal for those who need more connection with less vulnerability, more guidance, and more personalized education. Be sure to reach out to Kuhntastic Health if any of these options sound right for you.

11. Deep Blue Essential Oil, Topical Treatments, and Supplements. This essential oil blend that includes well-known, powerhouse ingredients such as Wintergreen, Peppermint, Ylang-Ylang, Blue Tansy, German Chamomile and Helichrysum may help with reducing discomfort related to muscles, joints, bones, and the nervous system. It can be applied as a compress on the spine, reflex points, or directly on any other area of pain-without resulting in side effects, toxicity or addictions! www.mydoterra.com/denisekuhn

Even if you take medication, you can optimize modern pain management with implementation of these simple techniques. Remember, natural solutions do not cause toxicity or side effects, making them a safe addition to your pain control toolbox.

In conclusion, follow your doctor’s advice and use these tips to reduce stress and inflammation, so you can ease pain naturally and get the relief you have been seeking.

The post Eleven Solutions to Ease Pain Naturally appeared first on Kuhntastic Health.