Is stress making your Fibromyalgia pain worse?

It is a little known fact that stress makes your pain worse. Whether it's pain from fibromyalgia or chronic back pain or any kind of pain. To check this fact, pay attention to your pain levels on the days when you have little or no stress. Then, compare it to the pain levels on a day when the stress is high. Big difference, right? So big, that your blood pressure will go up with the increased stress and pain, showing that clearly this is a health problem.

So, now that we know that stress makes your fibromyalgia pain worse, what are we going to do about it?

Well, there are things that you can do to reduce and relieve the unwanted stress in your lives:

Meditate:

Find a dark, quiet room. Sit on the floor, indian style, and close you mind to any sounds around you. Think of nothing. Clear your mind. Do this from 20 minutes to an hour every day and you will feel the stress melting away.

Exercise:

Yoga is an exercise that greatly reduces stress. Yoga is a gentle exercise that involves the mind, sort of like meditation. The gentle moves of yoga require concentration, so it actually takes your mind off of the stress of that day. A great time to perform yoga is in the evening right before bed. This can prepare you for a stressless slumber.

Conversation:

Sometimes you can work out your stress and let it go over a good conversation with a singnificant other or friend. Get together for coffe and conversation and talk out your stress.

Activity:

Taking a walk, even if it's just in your yard to look at the flowers, can have a good affect on stress. Try to think of good things on this walk, so you do not just think about the pain.

Read:

I do this quite a lot, because I am a bookworm and can read sometimes for hours. If you can do that and actually get your mind right into the story, this is very affective in "blocking" the pain from your mind.

Animals:

My husband laughs at me because I talk to my dog as if he were my child. Well, he kind of is my child and interacting with him can help me block out the pain. Sometimes he appears to even be listening to me! You can also engage with your pet with play, grooming and walking him. Engaging in any activity with an animal can help take your mind off the pain and decrease your stress level.

Stress has a negative affect on your body and mind. But, for those of us with fibromyalgia, it increases our pain levels. Try the above tips on reducing stress and decrease your pain in the process.

Let me know if you have any other great tips for reducing stress to decrease your fibromyalgia pain in the comments section below.