The Fascinating Human Brain- Part 6: Pain and Learning to Listen to Your Body

High levels of pain have a similar effect as anxiety and depression on the neurochemicals of your body. Pain causes high levels of stress hormones to be produced, which causes neuron destruction and the shrinkage of the hippocampus.

Of course pain, like anxiety, can be adaptive. Contrary to deeply-engrained Western belief that anesthesia is the best answer to pain, it is the gift of God to alert you to something wrong. And the something wrong isn't that you need Ibuprofen. In fact, children who are born with a rare condition where they are not able to feel pain quickly die, because pain is protective. (Check on this fascinating book for more on this topic!)

Here's a challenge. The next time you have a headache, before you pop the pills, stop and think. If you really believe that we as humans are to live as WHOLE PEOPLE with minds, emotions, bodies, spirits, etc... which are connected and chopped up into pieces, then how would that impact your headache? Your immediate Tylenol solution demonstrates that you MAY NOT believe that after all, but rather live segmented life applying a drug-only solution to a perceived physical-only problem. What else might be going on?

-Tense muscles in your back/neck?
-Because you only got 4 hours of sleep last night?
-Because you woke up three times worrying about your marriage? (your kids? your mortgage?)
-But you tell yourself you're supposed to trust Jesus, so you bottle up your anxiety?
-Because growing up in your family, no one ever talked about struggles or fears?

or is it something else?

-straining muscles in your face?
-because you just got off the phone with your mother?
-because she called to lovingly remind you to make sure to send a present to your nephew?
-even though you are 45 years old and when is she going to stop treating you like a kid?

or maybe...

-you went to bed at 2 am after playing video games?
-because you really wanted some time you could consider your own?
-because your boss told you on the way out the door at 7pm that if you wanted to be considered for management, you were going to have to be willing to make some sacrifices...
-but there's an internal tug of war. You're ticked your boss doesn't get your life... and you've always considered yourself a family guy, but now you're feeling guilty because part of you feels overwhelmed at home and really WANTS a good excuse to come home after the kids are already in bed?

What? You have a headache? Shocking.

The scenarios go on and on and on.

BTW, I'm not against Ibuprofen or Tylenol. (And I'm certainly not against trusting in Jesus--just against a false reality that uses spiritual platitudes to ignore the reality of suffering and longing for what is not yet.)

But you can see why Tylenol isn't going to cut it. And I can guarantee that many of your headaches are meant to point you to awareness of something going on inside you that's far more than just physical.