Exercise may help you better tolerate pain

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Exercise may improve your pain tolerance In the U.S., chronic pain already afflicts more people than both depression and diabetes. It can be persistent and hard to treat, and appears to be becoming a more prevalent public-health problem, which means it’s a good time to pay close attention to pain research. Two recent studies stood out to me because, taken together, they shed lights on some of the most interesting questions about pain. The first is a Norwegian study that linked higher levels of pain tolerance to more frequent physical activity. With 10,732 participants, the study serves as great evidence for the importance of lifestyle habits in managing pain. Future research examining what’s behind this association could teach us more about the biological underpinnings of how pain is experienced—something that another study published last week broke new ground on. A team of neurologists at the University of California, San Francisco implanted trackers into the brains of patients with chronic nerve pain to provide the most rigorous data yet on the brain activity associated with chronic pain. What they found suggests that chronic pain is a unique neurological experience compared to other types of pain. The research could open the door to new pharmacological therapies. Keep an eye on it—it’s an example of the way that clever research techniques can pave the path to important advancements. READ MORE Share This Story

What Else to Read 40% of Food Illness Outbreaks Are Linked to Sick Restaurant Workers By Ilena Peng/Bloomberg Few establishments have comprehensive policies in place to prevent contamination, a government analysis found. Read More » More U.S. Adolescents Are Getting Weight-Loss Surgery By Ilena Peng and Emma Court/Bloomberg The findings come as doctors take an increasingly hands-on approach to weight loss, including in young people. Read More » How COVID-19 Affects Cholesterol By Markham Heid Plus, what you can do to protect yourself. Read More » Sweden Could Become One of the World's First 'Smoke-Free' Countries By Karl Ritter and Charlene Pele / AP The Scandinavian nation could soon be one of the first places in the world to declare itself "smoke free." Read More » Nevada’s Republican Governor Approves Abortion Protections By Gabe Stern / AP Joe Lombardo is one of the only Republican governors to sign a law enshrining protections for abortion. Read More »

ONE LAST READ Recognizing the sacrifice of body donors A complete human-body dissection is an essential part of academic training for medical students, but the process is far from impersonal. New York Times reporter April Rubin’s moving descriptions of the memorial services held for whole-body donors is a highlight of her story about how students and universities honor the people who donate their bodies to the anatomy lab. Read More »

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