Anxiety and Pain

Anxiety can cause pain in more ways than you can imagine. It isn’t your imagination playing tricks on you either, it is really happening. Pain can stem from normal activities of life, and most of the time you will remember where your particular pain came from. Whether it was twisting your ankle on a long walk, or turning the wrong way while standing in the shower, if you are in pain, you know exactly what caused it.

However, there are times when you will have pain in other places, or you will feel like your leg muscles are cramping or even hanging there loosely. Anxiety, tension, and even stress can be the cause of this muscle pain. It can be understood if you know what an adrenaline rush is and what it does to you. When you are in a situation that truly needs attention, or when something is happening that is either shocking or tragic, those are the times when your body actually needs adrenaline as a comforter so you don’t go into complete shock.

What Are You Fighting Against? What Are You Running From?

When we constantly let the wheels to spin even when there are no problems or actual shocking situations, adrenaline will still be released, which is where anxiety and pain intertwine. This is how smart our brains and bodies are. If we are anxious about some future event that hasn’t happened and probably never will, our bodies still release unnecessary adrenaline. If anxiety and pain are prolonged, then it will become a constant source of unnecessary stimulation that can only be resolved by exercise.

Exercise burns off the extra adrenaline that was secreted and at the same time it releases endorphins, which are like natural opiates into our systems. This is what is commonly referred to as “runners high”. People actually get addicted to this natural high and after awhile they run every day or as much as possible; sometimes even more than once a day. The only time we truly need adrenaline is when we are in a situation that calls for extra powerful energy on our part.

For instance, if we are in a situation where we are being attacked by someone else and need to run very fast but normally cannot do so, the adrenaline will release and all of a sudden you will find yourself more than able to run as fast as necessary. This is called the fight or flight reaction, which you have probably heard of many times before. This is another reason why we must be very careful to guard against anxiety and pain working hand in hand together.

Hopeful Expectation

Guarding our minds, thinking more positively, and changing our thought patterns will help with getting over anxiety. It won’t happen overnight however. We have to keep choosing to think differently no matter what is going on. The keyword here is Peace. Inner peace will always lead to outer peace: The peace wherein we know that we can control this awful pain in our bodies just by the way we choose to think.

We are just as powerful as we want to be, and can easily change our anxious thoughts by thinking thoughts filled with faith and hope instead of gloom and doom. There are going to be days where we forget and this is mainly because we are so used to bad things happening. We now expect bad instead of good. Are you afraid to be happy?

For once, are you afraid to live your life to the fullest and have joy, and just let go? Many of us are so used to being trapped by our own self-caused anxiety and pain that we are truly afraid to be happy. We don’t think we deserve real joy. It just isn’t true. You deserve everything that life has to offer, and you are allowed to be anxiety and pain free.  

*The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only. Never substitute, disregard, or delay seeking professional medical advice and assistance for any health or mental issue(s) you have or are concerned about because of something you have read.