Pain Management and Pain Relief Information

As each and every one of us gets to be older we all find different types of pain troubling our spirits. For some people, it will be pain in the back. For yet others, it may come in the form of arthritic pain of the joints, or just general aches and pains of an unknown origin. Pain can be a challenging thing to tolerate for extended durations of time, and may dramatically bring down a person’s overall feeling of mental well-being. Pain is certainly known to play a role in many different kinds of depressive disorders, which may cause loss of income, feeding into a spiraling sort of feedback loop.

Both depression and pain are the cause for the consumption of a large amount of pharmaceuticals taken around the world. The economic cost of real depression shouldn’t be underestimated. The consequences of taking these pills can vary from problems like addiction, particularly in the case of opioids, to putting on weight, in the case of other drugs such as anti-depressants. As a result of this, even individuals dealing with legitimate melancholy or pain frequently avoid the drugs completely.

Natural treatments abound to attempt to treat these problems as well as conditions similar to them, but many of them do not have any real credibility. Acupuncture is just one tiny example of this. This does depend, usually, on the place in which you live, however. Many different regions have very different thoughts and practices on the steps to deal with many of mankind’s modern diseases. One good alternative or adjunct that is worth mentioning and used by many millions of human beings throughout the planet, especially the nation of Finland, is use of sauna bathing.

Most physicians will recommend exercise for all sorts of things, because it’s for the most part known to be all around beneficial for both well-being and physical health. Sauna use, however, here in the U.S.A. at least, isn’t mentioned as much. The sauna is an excellent health tool for a variety of reasons. For one, it is mostly passive in its application. You do not have to have fantastic mobility to necessarily enjoy its beneficial effects. The manner in which sauna bathing helps in both pain and depression involves two important chemicals: norepinephrine and beta-endorphin.

Use of the sauna creates a potent release of endorphins and norepinephrine both. Beta-endorphin is the compound which most painkillers are designed to mimic. It is completely naturally found in the body and releases from exercise, and use of a sauna. Sauna bathing is able to create a strong release of this endogenous peptide. Noradrenaline has in fact been the target of many drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and depression as well. Norepinephrine is also enhanced by use of the sauna.