Pain as an evolutionary advantage

Pain was likely an evolutionary advantage that helped the body react quickly to danger or injury and to avoid repeating harmful situations. Today, while most humans seek to avoid pain, others dedicate their lives to mastering it, pushing their mind and body beyond physical limits.

David Blaine’s documentary on pain and endurance

The renowned magician David Blaine explores this complex relationship between pain and endurance in a new National Geographic documentary series, David Blaine: Aux frontières de l’impossible. Traveling around the world in search of the extraordinary, he has discovered how performance can push back fear and its influence on our perception of pain.

Pain as a part of daily life

Although not everyone engages in extreme activities like juggling fire or diving into frozen lakes, pain is often part of daily life. "We have different reactions, different emotions, different behaviors depending on the context of the pain," explains Gregory Scherrer, associate professor of cellular biology and physiology at the department of neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "That's why pain is subjective."

Common experiences involving pain

From the care of a cavity to tattooing, through ear piercing, even the most common events in life are accompanied by an expected degree of discomfort. These sensations can vary according to how our bodies interpret these signals. Surprisingly, they can be pleasant because intense pain and pleasure are regulated by some common neural circuits.

Pain and the sense of power

This phenomenon can manifest in several ways. We speak of "runner's euphoria" when our body produces endorphins in response to prolonged physical exercise, causing temporary feelings of euphoria that alleviate pain. This same biological trick explains why some people like spicy food. Although pain is sometimes difficult to bear, mastering it can give a sense of power, explains Anna McNuff, a British author known for cycling through all the states of the United States and running the equivalent of ninety marathons, barefoot, across Great Britain.

Pain tolerance influenced by multiple factors

Scientists struggle to distinguish between innate and acquired to define natural resistance to pain. A multitude of factors influence our daily tolerance to pain, such as genetics, sex, and even our sleep time. Women, for example, are more sensitive to pain. It is a potential side effect of having more hormones than men.

Pain tolerance and age

On the other hand, if men have higher pain tolerance thresholds, they are less likely to report their aches and pains than women. This could be due to the way society teaches them to ignore their emotions. Further research has highlighted that our pain tolerance threshold changes with age. As we age, it increases. This would be due to the fact that young people, often driven by curiosity, have fewer negative experiences to refer to, explains Gregory Scherrer.

Chronic pain and its impact

Having a high pain tolerance threshold can sometimes seem meaningless in the face of chronic pain. When these last more than three months, they can lead to severe consequences on our free time, work, and more broadly on our quality of life. In France, it is estimated that 20 million people suffer from moderate to severe chronic pain, or nearly 30% of the population.

Managing chronic pain

Worldwide, this figure approaches billions and many countries are facing an escalation of pain and disabilities at the population level. Exercise-based therapies have proven to be good tools to combat chronic pain. Some studies have, for example, found that movements, such as those practiced during yoga sessions, would be effective ways to prevent and treat severe chronic conditions, such as migraines or lower back pain.

Spirituality and pain

People have also found that meditation, spirituality, and religion help them cope. Indeed, some studies have shown that having access to spiritual resources can lead to increased pain tolerance in some patients, against acute or chronic pain, although they do little to alleviate their suffering. However, pain is not useless. It is an important signal that warns that the body has reached its limits.

Pain as a tool for growth

And sometimes, facing pain can help a person harden. "Training for something is as much a question of mental determination as physical resistance," explains Anna McNuff. In her case, a large part of her preparation for overcoming pain and accepting failure relies on understanding her reactions to stress and injuries. "People often look down on getting hurt while training for an adventure, although it is an opportunity to better understand one's body," she confides. "In the end, no one knows your body better than you. The more you push it to its limits, the more you test it, tease it, and understand it, the better it will be."

Pain and pleasure as essential sensations

In conclusion, and since pain and pleasure are intimately linked to our existence as a social species, Brock Bastian, a psychology professor at the University of Melbourne, thinks life would not be as beautiful without these two sensations to rhythm it. "To a lesser extent, we are constantly looking for a challenge," he says. "Feeling pain is an important part in the pursuit of a happy and healthy life."