Sunday, September 29, 2019

Exercise for chronic pain relief

Plus: Tips to manage social anxiety
Eamon Queeney for NPR

How Walking Can Help Manage Chronic Pain

For people who live with chronic pain, exercise can seem daunting. Some fear it will make their pain worse. But in fact, researchers find the opposite is true: The right kind of exercise can help reduce pain.

At the University of North Carolina, researchers are helping people with painful osteoarthritis in their joints start a walking habit.

Movement helps mitigate the pain and damage of osteoarthritis by building up surrounding muscles to  stabilize the hurting joint and by lubricating the cartilage. Finally, exercise may also cause changes in the brain that can make a big difference in damping down pain.

Read on for tips on getting started with a walking habit for managing pain.

BONUS: Off-label use of an addiction medicine is helping some patients with pain. 

Tara Moore/Getty Images

Simple Ways To Overcome Social Anxiety

We all have an inner critic, a negative voice in our head rehearsing our worst fears over and over. That voice can hold you back from making new friends, connecting with colleagues or sharing your brilliant ideas. It can even lead to loneliness or isolation.

If you can turn down the volume on that voice, you might find that you can more easily open up and connect, says psychologist Steven Hayes.

"You've got to rein in the dictator within you," he says. "You've got to put that voice on a leash."

Read on for six simple tools that can help defang that inner dictator.

Mark Makela/Getty Images

Stressed Out By Politics? Here's How To Keep Caring And Keep Your Cool

The political headlines have been relentless lately. Calls for impeaching the president. Debates over health care, immigration and gun control. Fights over who tweeted what.

Discussions of these issues can quickly get heated and toxic. They can affect relationships and even your health, according recent research. 40% of respondents in a new survey said that politics caused them stress and 20% reported losing sleep, feeling fatigued or being depressed.

It seems that Americans "are suffering some pretty negative consequences because of their attention to and engagement in politics," says political scientists Kevin Smith.

Read on for advice on how to  stay engaged with our democracy, without letting it ruin your relationships, or health. 

More of this week's health stories from NPR

Overtraining is real: Too much exertion makes our brains tired.

Angry mom to Congress: Stop using our kids as guinea pigs for vaping.

Scientists are creating artificial DNA in the lab ... What could possibly go wrong?
We hope you enjoyed these stories. Find more of NPR's health journalism on Shots and follow us on Twitter at @NPRHealth.

Your Shots editor,

Carmel Wroth
 
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