STUDY SHOWS EXERCISE INCREASES PAIN TOLERANCE

According to a recent study, exercising might also have the unanticipated effect of increasing our pain tolerance. People who regularly exercised had a better pain tolerance than those who rarely exercised, according to a study published in the journal PLOS One.

The researchers' analysis was based on data from 10,732 participants in the Troms study, a sizable investigation on health and disease that was carried out in Troms, Norway. Over half of the participants were women, and their ages ranged from 30 to 87.

Each individual underwent two evaluations, each eight years apart. They participated in a cold pressor test and provided information about their degree of physical activity throughout each assessment. This is a typical technique used by researchers to create pain in a lab setting. Participants submerge their hands for as long as they can in 3°C of water. They become more tolerant of pain the longer they keep their hand submerged.

The longer the individuals could keep their hand in the water, the more active they were, the researchers discovered. In fact, individuals who were deemed to be very active were able to maintain their hand in the water for an average of 115.7 seconds, as opposed to 99.4 seconds for the participants who were deemed to be the least active. The participants who continued to be active or increased their activity level were able to perform on average better during the second test than those who did not change their level of activity.

But it's important to remember that everyone's average pain tolerance decreased during the eight years between tests. Whether folks were marathon enthusiasts or couch potatoes, the change was essentially the same for everyone. Despite this decline, persons who were more active than inactive individuals nevertheless had better pain tolerance levels. It's unclear why people lost their ability to tolerate pain with time, but it may be related to aging.

We must exercise caution when interpreting the results, though. Self-reporting is a problematic method for measuring physical activity since individuals may be tempted to overstate their level of exercise. Additionally, they can have problems recalling their physical activity, which could result in both an over- and under-report.

Additionally, the participants were only questioned about their recent 12-month physical activity, therefore the analyses did not take into account the subsequent seven years between assessments. This indicates that even if a person engages in vigorous physical activity for seven out of eight years, they may still be classified as sedentary. These situations could bias the results and cause them to be incorrectly interpreted. However, this study adds to a growing body of research that has demonstrated the advantages of exercise for pain tolerance.