Thanksgiving: How a Holiday Focused on Gratitude Can Help
Thanksgiving is one of our favorite holidays here at CPC. It’s one of those holidays that gives us cause to pause and reflect on all the amazing people and experiences we are surrounded by. It also gives us the opportunity to share some little-known health benefits to the emotion of gratitude. To that end, our specialists at the CPC pain clinic Waynesville location put together a bit of information on how this holiday season can have a positive impact on your chronic pain.
The Mind-Body Connection
You may have heard it said that physical pain does not exist in a bubble. It’s true. When a part of our body is in physical distress, it impacts our mental and emotional state as well. Chronic pain can cause feelings such as anger, hopelessness, sadness and anxiety. To treat pain effectively, you must address the physical, emotional and psychological aspects. (To learn more about this phenomenon, visit our blog on how chronic pain affects your brain.)
The exciting part about this information is that it means more effective non-surgical treatment options. In fact, several recent studies show clearly that mindfulness can have a positive impact on pain levels. Read on to learn about one of the more powerful forms of mindfulness – gratitude – and how it can help with comprehensive pain management.
Health Benefits of Gratitude
Thankfulness and gratitude are widely considered to be some of the healthiest emotions. This is due to the wide-ranging positive impact they can have on physical and mental health. For example, did you know that gratitude can:
Increase optimism
Improve outlook
Increase activity levels
Decrease number of doctor visits
Improve sleep
Incorporating Gratitude into Your Holiday Celebration
This Thanksgiving, you are under “doctor’s order” to practice Gratitude as part of your chronic pain treatment plan. Don’t worry – this treatment is non-invasive, quick and painless. There are a number of ways to incorporate gratitude into your Thanksgiving celebration.
Recruit help from loved ones and/or friends so that you can spend time with people who you are grateful for as you work on your holiday preparations.
Begin your mealtime with letting each person share one person or experience they are thankful for.
Write down three things that went well each day throughout the week of Thanksgiving.
Tell loved ones what you appreciate about them.
When you are working on your physical therapy exercises, remind yourself of all the gains you’ve made in your pain management
Take things one day at a time – give yourself permission to enjoy each moment of the holiday celebration
These may sound like small, insignificant actions but they make a big impact. Our pain psychologist will tell you that each of these actions can go a long way towards developing new ways to think about pain problems and finding solutions.
Comprehensive Pain Management
We understand that when you are experiencing chronic and debilitating pain, there is nothing more important than finding a plan to take your life back. Chronic pain is not only physically debilitating, it becomes a mental and emotional burden. You suffer. Your family suffers. You need a qualified partner like Comprehensive Pain Consultants of the Carolinas, an Asheville pain clinic, to help you on your journey toward a healthy, active and happy life. Our pain management doctors in Asheville North Carolina are here to help!