Table of contents:
- What determines the severity of your pain?
- Factors that make you more resistant to pain
- 1. Situation and condition
- 2. Fear
- 3. The cause of the appearance of pain
- 4. Background or lifestyle
Some people - even adults - are afraid of getting injections or having blood drawn. They feel that the needle is so painful. On the other hand, there are people who are calm about having a needle injection. In fact, the type of needle used is exactly the same and the injection technique is the same.
Then why can the pain from this needle prick be felt with different sensations for each person? Why is it that some can endure the pain while there are people who cannot stand the slightest pain? Well, here comes the full explanation.
What determines the severity of your pain?
Everyone does have a different perception (acceptance) of pain even though the situation, condition, injury, or procedure that causes the pain is exactly the same. According to experts who study how pain arises, it is concluded that pain is actually regulated by the brain, not by the part of your body that hurts.
That is, when you have an injection in the arm, for example, it is not your arm that will feel the pain. Instead, the brain will read signals from the tissues and nerves of the arm. From there, the brain then processes the information obtained by the arm. This information is used as a reference for acting against pain. For example, frowning, screaming, crying, or making a fist.
Thus, the perception of pain depends on the reaction and the way the brain processes information from the trigger for pain. Not how bad the trigger was. This is why everyone can have a different level of pain from the same experience.
The same person can even have different perceptions of pain. For example, when you accidentally cut your finger with a knife. For some people, the pain from being cut by a knife is even more excruciating than the pain during childbirth. In fact, medically giving birth is certainly a more serious effect on the body.
Factors that make you more resistant to pain
Pain is not only affected by the cause, but also by the following important factors.
1. Situation and condition
Your surroundings can affect a person's perception of pain. People who are injected in a quiet environment with friendly and informative medical personnel tend to be more resistant to pain. Meanwhile, if you are injected by a medical officer who seems hasty or less friendly, you may feel more pain.
2. Fear
If you have heard of a brother or sister's bad experience when having a tooth pulled out, fear or panic will overwhelm your mind. When it is your turn to pull your tooth yourself, you will feel even more pain than it should be. Meanwhile, if you have heard suggestions from other people that you don't feel tooth extraction at all, you will become more confident. Therefore, the brain will not overreact when the gum nerves send pain signals.
3. The cause of the appearance of pain
Giving birth, getting pierced, or getting tattooed should be very painful. However, some people don't feel the pain that much. This is because they believe the pain has a useful reason. This will trigger the production of the hormone dopamine in the brain. The hormone dopamine is responsible for blocking pain signals from the body to the brain.
Meanwhile, if you fall slipped, the pain can come in a row. This is because accidentally falling for no purpose or reason at all. Instead, you will produce a stress hormone called cortisol, which can make the pain or tenderness worse.
4. Background or lifestyle
It turns out that a person's cultural background, work, and lifestyle affect how well you tolerate pain. This is why boxers, wrestlers, and sports athletes tend to be more resistant to pain.
Their brains are accustomed to receiving pain signals from various tissues and nerves throughout the body. Over time, the brain's reaction will decrease when they are injured or injured.
