Understanding Pain

What happens to my body with pain?

Pain not only decreases one’s enjoyment of life, it creates stress in the body.  Stress is the worst detriment to healing. A body under stress triggers the “fight or flight” response, which means the adrenal gland begins excreting hormones, such as cortisol and adrenaline. Cortisol levels are supposed to be low at night time, putting the body in the sleep mode. With pain, however, high cortisol levels put the body in the alert mode and insomnia results.