I can't count on two hands the number of times I've rained wet on my bike in recent weeks. Bad weather doesn't make you happy, but can it really affect pain? Discover it in this blog.
True stories about the weather and pain
There are many stories about the weather and pain. Most of the stories I've heard from people in pain myself are about holidays. On the sunny beaches of Spain the pain disappears more into the background. Once back in the Netherlands, the pain suddenly returns... Does the weather really affect pain?
Sunny beaches and pain
As you could also read in the previous blog, there are many factors that can contribute to the pain. What you do, feel, think and where your attention is all have an influence on pain. When you're on holiday, you can imagine that all these areas are (positively) influenced.
Doing: You are often busy on holiday in a different way, and maybe even more in motion.
Thinking: The chance that positive thoughts about the holiday will fill your head is quite big on holiday, especially when the weather is nice!
Feeling: And that makes you feel better.
Attention: Because of the new environment and distractions there is less attention for the pain.
Enough reasons for a possible change in how you experience your pain! So there is certainly more to it than just the weather.
What about the weather?
Back to the weather. Could it be that only the weather affects pain? Sure it can! But that will certainly differ from person to person. Will your mood and thoughts change easily when the weather gets less? Then there is a greater chance that when the weather changes, you will also feel changes in pain more quickly. Especially when you have experienced pain more often in bad weather, the weather alone can be a trigger for your brain to call out 'danger' faster.....
What are you doing about it?
You have no influence on the weather. You can move, but the question is whether that solves the problem. What you do have more influence on are your thoughts, feelings, behaviour and attention! Instead of letting the weather determine how you feel, you can work on deciding more about how you want to feel. Through the exercises of this blog you'll find plenty of ways to get a better grip on yourself!