The Link Between Chronic Stress and Pain and How to Stop the Cycle
Chronic stress and pain can feed on one another and damage your quality of life. Read on to learn how to stop the cycle.
Pain is a personal experience and living with pain everyday is hard. It’s normal to feel uncomfortable, to feel tense, and to find yourself distracted from day to day chores by the pain. Living in a chronic state of tension can be exhausting in and of itself. Not sleeping, having constant pain and being irritable impacts others in your life—at work, in the family or even with friends. Your role within the family also changes and for some, the shift from being the family provider to ‘disabled’ family member has a significant impact on one’s self-esteem and self-worth. For some, worrying about finances becomes an everyday struggle.
Chronic stress from pain interferes with sleep, which in turn makes you more irritable and tense. As you live with pain, it is very normal for you to go through different emotional stages in your recovery process. These stages may include—denial, anger, frustration, depression.
