Fixing the Now: Powerful, Practical Ways to Reduce Pain and Stress ‘In the Moment’

In this article, which I’m calling ‘Fixing the Now’, I want to talk about some of my favourite pain relief and stress busting tips.

I’ve put ‘pain relief’ and ‘stress busting’ together here intentionally. While they might not always seem connected, they often are, and working on one can help ease the other.

Some are cognitive strategies, others are physical. Each is designed to give you something to do ‘in the moment’ and positively reconfigure how you’re feeling.

It’s a process to help you shift, step-by-step, into a better, less painful, less stressful state.

These are all things that I personally have built up over the years. Some came from studies, others I stumbled upon through trial and error. All of them I use regularly myself.

As with everything (diet, exercise and lifestyle) I’ve done my best to tweak and evolve each of these strategies to suit my needs.

This is a really important point. Tailoring to suit your needs is key.

Try to use that mindset as we go through this. You might want to tweak certain elements or do things in a different way. If so, great!

By far, the best protocols are the ones that you can slip into your routine that don’t feel like ‘work’. The goal is to want to do them (so they don’t feel like a chore). To do them because you know they’re going to help you.

This guide is for anyone.

Whether you’re feeling stressed, overwhelmed, fatigued, going through a painful flare, struggling with a chronic health condition… maybe a combination.

We know that stress can trigger or exacerbate physical pain and vice versa. That’s why these strategies can often work so well in tandem.

With small incremental gains, before you know it, you can make real headway and get some light at the end of the tunnel.

Take advantage of the ‘third person’ perspective

We’re going to start with one which is loosely based on CBT or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy which I call “leaching out the poison”.

When there’s something playing on our mind, or that we’re ruminating about we can feel stress or loss of control.

The thing just loops in your head and builds up stress. There’s cortisol release in your body and your whole system is on high alert. If on top of this you suffer with a chronic health condition, an inflammatory condition for example, it’s going to raise your already elevated pain levels. It can even trigger a flare in the first place.

It’s really important, whether you’re suffering with mental pain, physical pain or a combination, to start addressing this right off the bat.

Here’s what I do.

I take a note-taking app on my phone or a piece of paper and a pen (whichever works best) and write down – in a stream of unedited consciousness – the thing that’s on my mind.

That means everything that’s stressing me out. All the emotions I’m feeling, the context, the whole lot, and I’m not doing it for another audience.

I’m literally pouring out these ‘poisonous’ thoughts. You have a concentrated mass of stress and negativity circling around your brain with nowhere to go.

This is a way of giving it an outlet. The most efficient way that I found of doing this is via a smartphone app, any will do. There’s a little dictation button (which looks like a microphone) which you can press and speak into and it will transcribe it for you.

I typically do this when I’m out for a walk or maybe I’m in a private space at home, so I’m not going to be overheard. I then just let loose with this stream of consciousness.

There are no rules about what to say. It might be a stressful thing at work. Or maybe you’re in physical pain. If so you can literally just describe that. What does it feel like? How is it affecting you? Where is it in the body?

I do this every time I get into a flare.

Once you’ve finished, give yourself a bit of a pause. You will already feel some relief just from the act of venting. You’ve been storing and bottling this thing up and now finally you’ve given it an outlet.

But there are still a couple more steps to come that will transform this into something that goes from giving you that initial stress relief, to something you can practically overcome and even benefit from.

Here’s what to do.

Take your written word or your transcript and read it out loud to yourself (literally or in your head, it doesn’t really matter).

See how it feels now.

When you’re vocalising something in the moment, there’s an immediacy to it. It’s full of emotion, it’s unfiltered and often overwhelming.

When you take a step back and read it back to yourself, it’s like you’re seeing it from a third person perspective with a level of cool detachment.

Now you can start to see it for what it really is. Problems can seem smaller, more solvable or not problems at all.

I recommend reading it back a few times. What you’re trying to do here is get to a stage where you become like a kindly friend advising your stressed-out self.

Imagine your friend had come to you and they poured their heart out, how would you respond? What would you say to them? The likelihood is you’d give them really useful, positive advice, not self flagellation.

This method can help you view things in a less negative, fraught or intense way.

It really does give you a different perspective.

You might have felt a raft of heightened beliefs (“Did I say the wrong thing?”… “How are we going to deal with XYZ?”… “I can’t cope!”).

At the time it can feel like an all-encompassing, all-important thing. Even though at the time a little part of you goes, “hang on, there are bigger things going on in the world”, it takes writing it down and having that thing in black and white, to look back and say, “this is solvable” or “I’m probably reading too much into this” or “I’m probably getting too stressed about this.”

It’s a powerful, quick process that can have such an enormous impact.

As a side point, if you’re feeling angry about something, use this method. Write down the thing that’s on your mind, read it back, reanalyse those beliefs, make sense of them, rationalise, be the kindly friend (and then delete it!).

It’s all about getting a fresh perspective and reframing the situation, then working on next steps.

And that’s where we come to this next point…

Deal with the challenging front of mind decision now (don’t put it off)

Most of the time when we’re stressed, there is a particular thing – or sometimes set of things – that has an outsized effect on our feelings in that moment.

It sits in your brain crowding out everything else. A big overwhelming blob.

It might even be a fairly meaningless task or stress, but it’s something that we don’t want to do, for whatever reason, and so we put it off.

The problem is this leads to a snowball effect which is so detrimental for your stress and pain levels.

Stress, and particularly the hormone release associated with stress, increases heart rate, inflammation and has a massive downstream effect.

Not only do you have that initial ruminating looping thought in your head, by not dealing with the thing it’s now occupying all of your time, lurking in the background.

Instead of this thing (which you know you’re going to have to do anyway!) being a singular task or challenge, it becomes something that can last for hours, days, or even weeks or months.

I know it’s easier said than done, but if you can, make a decision to tackle the thing that’s in the front of your mind right now.

If it’s a work thing, for example, do the hard thing first.

Make the phone call to the person that you really don’t want to speak to (it’s probably only going to take a minute or two now versus days of ongoing built up stress).

Get cracking on that project that you should have started a week ago.

Have that difficult conversation with your friend, partner or loved one that you’ve been putting off for ages.

You’re going to have to do the thing anyway. Why not do it right now, right this second, so that you don’t have the awful snowballing endless built up pain and rumination, lack of sleep and all of the terrible downstream effects that come with that.

The same situation, two options:

1. One is to deal with it now.

2. The other is to let it fester and increase your stress and your pain levels.

These are the two biggest mental strategies I’ve come across that can help you ‘in the moment’.

I’ve put them upfront because they’re connected and I found them so helpful.

Hot and Cold Exposure to Lower Inflammation and Reframe

The next tip is more physical…

Almost every time I’ve said this one, people wince or have a negative reaction.

And yet… every single person who’s tried it, without exception (I’ve honestly never met anyone who didn’t benefit from this) has been converted. They’ve absolutely loved it.

I’m talking about cold exposure and hot exposure.

Probably the best entry into this, if you’ve never done it before, is to go somewhere which has all the equipment (maybe a gym or a sauna place) that offers an introductory session.

It’s a great way to experience the amazing benefits.

Typically I will do something like 10 to 12 minutes in a sauna and then a couple of minutes in a freezing cold plunge. It’s not quite freezing but very cold water.

Now you won’t be able to do two minutes right away, that’s something you build up to. Start with 15 seconds or 20 seconds or whatever you’re able to feel comfortable with and then build up. It’s not an endurance test!

Not everyone has access to a sauna or a cold plunge. I’m lucky that I have one within 30 minutes walk.

Some people will have a gym membership which has access to sauna. If so, utilise that.

But if you don’t or if it’s outside your budget, don’t worry,

At home, most people have the tools to really benefit from this.

The first one is to have a freezing cold shower. Put the shower on at the coldest setting. You don’t have to walk into this cold turkey if you don’t want to. You can start with a hot shower and then just really suddenly change it to cold and then stand in there as long as you can.

This will give you the anti-inflammatory effect on the area you’re experiencing pain.

It might not completely fix it, but it will have an impact. I’m not exaggerating when I say that some days when I’ve had low level pain, I have completely shifted it just by having a cold shower (2 minutes in my case). I really recommend trying that if you can.

For a lot of people, that might be a mental leap to do straight away. The other thing which can work absolute wonders is to have a hot bath, a really hot bath.

Add Magnesium Chloride or Epsom salts. It’s going to be absorbed by your skin, which is going to help with cramp and pain levels. The heat from the bath also has a range of health benefits.

The cold and the heat does something else.

It puts you right in the moment. When we’re stressed or in pain that’s often all we can think about. It’s really hard to break the cycle.

All we can think about is that pain in the lower back or that pain in the shoulder or gut pain or that front of mind stress, that horrible problem that you can’t seem to let go of.

When you change your physical state like this, particularly when you’re having a cold shower, your mind is going to be very focused on what’s happening in that moment.

And that’s really wonderful.

It gives you some detachment. It lets you exist in the now and that can have a wonderfully reframing context.

It’s the same with the hot bath. The soothing effect that’s combined with will also help settle you.

While these things are good to do at any time of day, if you know you’re going to be struggling with sleep (maybe you’re struggling to sleep because you keep waking up thinking about something, or you have a pain in your body) that hot bath with Magnesium or Epsom salts is going to do wonders. Just do it just before you go to bed.

The magnesium will aid you with sleep as well.

Sleep is one of the most important pillars of health and cognitive function and stress relief. If you can get this thing right, it will put you in such good stead the next day.

A Stroll in Nature – A Powerful Anti-Inflammatory

The next one is such a simple one, and one of those bits of advice that people talk about but often write it off.

Go for a brisk stroll in nature.

It doesn’t have to be a pristine forest, it can be a park or a green space.

In my case, it takes me around 15 or 20 minutes to get through the urban chaos of my local area but it’s worth it.

I know that after somewhere between 15 minutes and an hour, that pain will start to ease up.

Find walking boring?

Listen to a really good podcast or some nice music.

Like with some of these other ideas I’ve shared with you, the movement and the music or the podcast helps change your environment.

It takes you out of that moment where you are totally absorbed by pain or stress. It gives you context. It puts you in the bigger world.

If you’re able to get near trees, nature, grass or flowers, you’re going to get an additional soothing effect from that.

This isn’t just woo or nonsense. There are chemicals in the soil that will give you a happiness boost and that interact with the body and the brain. It’s a bacteria called Mycobacterium vaccae. When we come into contact with it it activates certain neurons containing serotonin.

There is such a profound benefit to getting outside.

As a side note, you may find it easier to solve problems or make decisions when out walking.

Again, this isn’t just woo – some of our greatest philosophers, including Nietzsche, Kant and Thoreau performed their best work when they were out walking and swore by it.

I’m actually so passionate about this that I might do a separate article on the benefits of walking. If I can convert even just one person to making it work for them, I will be thrilled.

The Restorative Power Nap

The next tip is more sedentary.

It’s to have a nap if you need it.

Naps don’t have to be something that completely eats up your day.

It can just be 10 or 15 minutes.

Contrary to popular belief you don’t even have to be asleep to experience a benefit, you can just lie in bed.

Ideally don’t nap for too long (not more than 45 minutes) or too late in the day because you don’t want to interrupt your night time sleep.

It’s such an easy thing if you work from home and can have such amazing outsized benefits.

It’s one of those things that if I’m going through something (a flare or high levels of stress) I combine with the brisk walking, the hot cold exposure and everything else I’ve talked about.

It becomes a valuable part of that protocol.

Don’t Forger the Magic Gels

The next one is pain related (and it’s something I often forget to do!)

Use a heat or cooling gel on the afflicted area.

It might sound obvious but have your favourite heat rub or cold rub handy for when you need it.

Feeling pain in a certain area? Use it.

So many times I’ve been in a flare, and I’ve forgotten to do this and my partner has to remind me. It really does help.

When I put it on I get some immediate relief. It doesn’t magic away the pain but it definitely helps.

That relief, however small, can mean two things.

The first is that it means you can go out for a stroll and get the legs and hips moving, one of the most powerful things you can do.

It also provides that distraction to jolt you into action.

It can also be great just before bed.

If you’re having a hot bath for example, I would follow that up with putting some heat rub on before you go to bed.

When you’re in bed (and I’m specifically talking about ankylosing spondylitis here) it can be painful and frustrating trying to get to sleep because you’re wriggling around a lot.

If you use some kind of hot or cold rub it will give you some relief or numbness in that area, which can give you a boost in getting off to sleep.

Phone a Friend

The next one taps into the human need for contact and understanding.

Call or meet up with a friend or a loved one, specifically someone you can really be yourself with, someone who gives you energy.

I’m being quite specific about the ‘energy’ part here.

We all have people in our lives who we’re close to and who are amazing humans… but, spending time with them can leave us feeling drained.

Not because they’re bad people, it’s just that kind of energy or dynamic.

That’s really not what you want if you’re feeling stressed, overwhelmed or in pain.

You want a warm, positive, empathetic ear who makes you laugh or makes you feel good about yourself.

You want to come away from that meetup or phone call feeling energised.

I’m sure if you think about it right now, you can think of one or two people who can really help you do that.

When you’re struggling, don’t be shy or embarrassed or worried that you’re going to be putting them out.

Reaching out will actually strengthen your relationship.

This study even suggests that by asking for help you will be seen as more ‘competent’ by the help giver.

When people find out after the fact that you were in need or that you needed help (and you didn’t contact them) they will actually feel worse about your friendship.

Don’t be afraid to make that call.

Just do it as you’re thinking about it.

Don’t make it something else to worry about… or think you ‘should’ be doing.

Take action. Call them.

If you’re feeling shy getting over that initial bump, you can just send them a message asking if they have five minutes to chat.

They will probably then call you, or arrange one.

I have been in the midst of the most painful flares where I’ve had a chat with a friend and we just talked about lots of really interesting, wonderful things, and the pain was drastically dampened during that phone call.

Even after the phone call, as I was reflecting on it, I had a reduction in pain.

The flare didn’t disappear, the pain was still there, but the impact that can have is so enormous.

Social connection is part of that whole pillar of health and happiness. Having that community, feeling supported, and knowing that when you’re feeling incredibly stressed or in pain you’re not alone.

It’s worth labouring this point.

You’re not hopeless and you’re not out of control. You are part of a group who love and support you and will help you.

Having that call with a friend or a loved one will help you reconnect with that.

Who knows, in some cases they may even help you be able to problem solve the thing that you’ve been panicking about or catastrophising about.

There are so many benefits from just picking up the phone and making that call. I really can’t recommend that highly enough.

Create a Clear Action Plan

The next one is to action what I call your flare or stress plan.

We can apply this process to stress, anxiety overload, ruminating, struggling to sleep, feeling depressed during the day and so on but let’s use the example of pain.

If I’m experiencing a painful flare, which in the past could last upwards of two weeks, have a plan ready. Print out a clear list of the things you are going to do to deal with it right now and have it ready.

You can put some of the things we’ve just talked about (apply heat rub, call a friend and so on) but make sure it is your own action plan.

Also put the things that you’ve discovered and that you have found helpful in it.

I’ll give you a few examples from my own one.

With my ankylosing spondylitis, one of the top things that really works for me is fasting.

The moment I know that I am in flare or about to go into flare, I start an extended fast. For me personally it could be 48 hours to 72 hours.

(Obviously check with your doctor before doing something like this. Don’t do it if you’ve got any complications).

So this is something that goes into my flare plan.

It’s something I can do immediately and it also has a psychological effect.

It has an added bonus where you feel like I’m doing something and taking action.

It helps stop me panicking. It stops me thinking, “I need to do this or that” or “how am I going to overcome this?”

I have that as step one.

I also do every single one of the things that I’ve talked to you above, but I will do them more frequently.

As an example, cold and hot exposure is amazing during a flare. I will increase the amount I do that.

That means I will typically book a couple more sessions in my local sauna place. I’m lucky that I have a very low cost one nearby and book in extra sessions (rather than just doing my normal one a week).

It gives a massive head start. It’s like starting at the 50 metre line of a hundred metre dash.

I make sure I fit it around all my immovable commitments. Typically I’ll either do it very early before work or after work.

I will absolutely make sure that I get my walks in.

I will also do the hot bath each night before bed, followed by the heat gel.

Having that simple list of practical things to do when you are in pain or stressed is so helpful.

Think about it, when you’re in that heightened, overwhelmed and uncomfortable state your brain is flooded with so many other things.

It’s flooded with panic… or not knowing what to do.

What you want to do is get back to that moment we talked about earlier in this episode, where you are standing outside of yourself giving yourself the best, most kind advice that you possibly can.

Imagine you are giving advice to a best friend.

You would remind them of all the things that helped. “Last time you did a fast you felt absolutely amazing, why don’t you start with that?”

You’d list off all of the things we’ve just talked about.

It doesn’t matter how you do it but ideally write it out or print it off.

Then when you feel stress coming on or you feel pain coming on, look at it, follow the steps and be kind to yourself.

It really has been so profoundly effective for me and I really hope that it’s something you can take advantage of as well.

It will probably take you 15 minutes to put onto paper. It’s really a quick thing to do, but it’s so invaluable having that set of actions you can take.

Frame the Positives

The next one is to, again, get a piece of paper, or a note-taking app, or whatever you use, and write down some things that you are grateful for.

Some people call this a gratitude journal.

I know it sounds a bit twee, or cheesy, or out there but there have been multiple studies showing how giving yourself this level of context can help lift you out of a highly stressful situation.

What you’re looking for is those things that you are grateful for in your life.

For example, I might write down in mine that I’m grateful I have a really loving partner. I might write down that I’m lucky to have such an amazing, supportive, loving family.

L then try and get really specific with some other things as well. I love photography and I’ll put down: “I’m so lucky and I’m so grateful that I can go out with a camera and be endlessly engaged and happy taking photos of the things I see.”

Just keep drilling it down and down and give yourself a nice big long list.

This will put front of mind all the things you love, all the things that decrease stress, all the things that you appreciate.

It’s all about tipping that balance of what’s in your brain in that moment.

Before you go into this, your brain will likely be filled up with all this negativity.

Whether that’s the high stress of that thing you’re worrying about at work, or that thing that you’re worried about with regards to your friend’s health, or your partner’s health.

Whether it’s that bill, or set of bills that you need to pay, or any of those things in modern life that can fill us with panic and worry.

That big orb of worrying things in your brain sits there.

Give it some perspective.

Imagine a set of scales. On the one side you have ‘that thing’ that’s on your mind (whether that’s pain or stress or both). Without context it’s top heavy. It’s consuming everything.

Now on the other side of the scales start adding items from your gratitude list.

What you’re doing is putting things in to tilt the balance the other way.

For example, I might be worrying about a thing at work with a crazy deadline.

But then I look at my set of scales and see that actually I’m really lucky.

I’ve got a place to live and shelter over my head. I have food to eat and people that love me. I’ve got a hobby that keeps me engaged. I’ve got this and that and so on.

Slowly but surely, the scales tilt the other way until you go, “hang on, this is kind of ridiculous”… “I’m worrying about this transient thing that probably, if I zoom out, I won’t even remember in a week’s time or a month’s time or a year’s time”.

You start to reframe and realise that in the grand scheme of things, this thing doesn’t really matter.

Even if it is something really quite major, for instance a terrible health scare or something else, your gratitude list is going to give you the means for helping you overcome it.

Whatever happens is going to happen. What you can do is control how you frame it and how you deal with it.

Part of this process is appreciating the things that you have around you. Your loved ones, your outlets, all of the things that give you the strength and ability to deal with things if you let it.

That’s going to be the thing that helps you overcome. Gratitude journals or lists, whatever you want to call them, are such wonderful, powerful things.

And don’t just limit their use to when you’re trying to beat something in the moment. It doesn’t have to be just for emergencies.

Try to get into a practice of once a day, maybe at the end of the day, thinking about something you really appreciated from that day.

Reading and re-reading over this list can have such a powerful effect on your day-to-day mental health.

Laugh

I’ll finish with a fun one.

Find a comedy that you love and play it.

It can be on YouTube, television, a podcast, whatever medium you prefer.

Again, this is all about reframing the situation. It’s about pulling you out of that stress or pain state and putting you into a happy or altered state.

The benefits of laughter are absolutely off the charts. The pain relief people get just from the act of laughing is remarkable.

Here’s just one study: “Humor Therapy: Relieving Chronic Pain and Enhancing Happiness for Older Adults” – https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Humor-Therapy%3A-Relieving-Chronic-Pain-and-Enhancing-Tse-Lo/561178bb1e05c853fcaea8399dd85a4f67387c33

Laughter can give you elevated feelings of mood, lower stress levels and pain relief.

We’re lucky to live in a time where many of us have access to a smartphone or a TV and can, at the push of a button, find something that’s really going to make us laugh.

Conversely when you’re in pain or feeling down maybe try to avoid those addictive (and I say that because I absolutely love them) crime/psychopath killer documentaries that have flooded online streaming platforms.

These shows can make the world seem like it’s filled with horror.

When you’re feeling healthy, great, knock yourself out, but if you’re stressed or in pain try to avoid anything which hyper-emphasises the bad things in the world.

Aim for levity. This is about tilting the balance.

I really hope you found this helpful.

A bit of a different approach today, but the mind and the gut are intertwined.

What we feed our brain and what we feed our bodies has an impact on both. That’s why it’s so important to have things you can do to work on ‘in the moment’ when you’re feeling overwhelmed.

I’d love to hear how you got on with this one. I’d love to also hear the things that you do so that we can share them with the rest of our listeners and readers.

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Friendly reminder: Please remember this is for information purposes only. Gut Heroes does not offer medical advice. We are all different and what works for me may not work for you. I setup Gut Heroes to share information with you. To shine a light on my own personal discoveries (as I currently understand them) and to help you with your own personal research.

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