Our bodies are fascinating. You can alter your very own pain threshold in your brain by just doing this one thing.
I’ve applied it to my last three pregnancies and I can vouch for its legitimacy. So how did I master my pain relief during childbirth?
Using Your Brain for Pain Relief During Childbirth
Your brain is constantly evolving and adapting to your environment, influences, and your thoughts. You essentially control everything flowing through your own noggin’.
But even the physical things we do changes how our brain functions too. So what does this mean for pain?
- There are things on the surface of our brain cells called receptors.
- Some receptors are specific to reaching and grabbing onto opiates.
- Opiates are wonderful molecules that relieve pain. Which is why many artificial drugs are classified as opiates, like morphine.
You have very natural opiate molecules too, like endorphins. They’re floating around your blood stream and through your body all the time.
- The more opiate receptors you have, the easier it is for you to find pain relief or just overall lower pain levels everyday.
- The less opiate receptors you have, the more extreme your pain is perceived and experienced.
So how do you get more opiate receptors?
Increasing Opiate Receptors Naturally
No medical procedure can into your brain and physically place more receptors on your brain cells. It just doesn’t work that way.
Sure, prescribing a drug to block pain temporarily may seem like the solution. But flooding the brain doesn’t last. Helping our body build itself for a more permanent solution will.
So what’s the solution?
EXERCISE.
It’s even beneficial two fold.
- Exercise increases your endorphins.
- Exercise increases your opiate receptors.
So it’s a positive double whammy at the same time. Choosing to exercise naturally boosts your endorphins which are also picked up more with the increase in your receptors.
It’s like having cake and eating it too-not really. 🙂 But you see what I mean.
Now this doesn’t happen overnight. But you can train your brain to do exactly what you want it to before you have your baby.
Train Your Brain
I know that getting up and moving when you’re completely exhausted from growing a little human can be like asking to move a mountain.
When you chip away at moving that mountain each and every day, even for just 15 minutes, it will gradually move.
It will get easier.
Just 15 minute a day.
The earlier you start, the better.
When you go into your pregnancy physically fit, go through it with mostly the same routines, and push to the end without quitting….you have trained your brain.
- You spend all this time training your mind to overcome the fear of childbirth.
- You spend time training your body to relax through our labor.
- You devote countless hours of training (more like practicing) how to push out the baby.
But are you training your brain?
Luckily, if you’re already doing what you should with even just easy exercises, you’re already training your brain.
But if you’re not moving enough, your brain is learning what you want it to.
Just 15 Minutes
Kegels aren’t going to do it. Most light anaerobic exercise won’t do it.
You’ve got to get your heart pumping for at least 15 minutes per day-hiking, running, aerobics, whatever.
Now if you miss a few days a week, it’s not the end of the world. But I’m not saying you need to be out there running marathons or biking hundreds of miles.
I’m talking about REAL exercise that gets the blood pumping and lasts.
- Even if you’re just walking, do it for 15 minutes.
- Then tomorrow, add a little hill to walk up.
- Then the next day, go 5 minutes more.
- If you’re doing body fit for extra strength, add on a few pounds to your kettle bell.
It doesn’t completely matter what you’re doing, just as long as you ARE doing something. Then your brain will change more and more the closer you get to delivery.
Once you’re in the thick of it, you’ll have so many receptors ready to receive those endorphins you’re pumping out during the stages of labor, that things won’t seem like extreme pain, but strong ebbs and flows of energy.
I PROMISE.
That’s all it takes to physically prepare your brain. You’re working on everything else, just keep the powerhouse of your body strong too.
Now, have you mastered what to do with your mind? If you’re mind isn’t prepared either, it will just counteract what the physical side of your brain is trying to do. If you don’t have power over your mind, thoughts and emotions, it may just win against your actual brain.
Control Your Mind Completely With The Birth Relaxation Kit
Just remember, it’s PROVEN scientifically that your body has more natural pain relief when you exercise. Are you ready to get off the couch now?
Tell me your thoughts, please! I’ll promise to respond to every single comment, just look at other posts and you’ll see that I do. Cheers!
Julie says
I have never been pregnant but I think about it a lot. There are so many important decisions to start making once you become pregnant, including whether or not to have a natural pregnancy. There are so many decisions to make that will impact your future child for the rest of its live. To be honest it scares me a little, but your advice was helpful. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Hi Julie. Check out how to Overcome Fear of Childbirth. You’re right, there are MANY factors that come to play and we cannot control all of them. But knowing that you’re making the best-informed choices for your family is a huge reward. Let me know if you have any questions, thanks!
Robert Basaker says
Sarah, I guess I’m not your typical visitor to your website, but your article caught my attention. I know of so many friends and family members that are addicted to pain killers and my doctor says it had become an epidemic in the country and she would like some alternative to prescribing pain medication. I knew a little about endorphins and opiates your body releases when you exercise, but your article was well written and very informative. I am going to pass this on to my doctor, family and friends. Who knew exercise would be the answer to getting people off pain medication. Another thought I have is it would probably work the same for people on anxiety medication. Keep up the great service.
Hi Robert. And people wonder why their doctor’s encourage regular exercise, right? I’ve never had to experience depression or strong anxiety, so I cannot say that I fully relate by any means. But I do know that even for myself, I feel much better when I do exercise.
I have anxiety that runs in my family and my husband’s family too. I’ve seen first-hand how exercise and physical exertion, even just getting outside and working in the yard makes such a big difference in the moods and mindsets of those affected by such maladies.
I had a chiropractor that once said that our bodies were made to work, not sit in front of the computer all day. (Hence why I support the use of Belly Armor Blankets during pregnancy.)
Please pass on the loved ones and friends, feel free to share this article too. There are so many people that can be helped with just a little knowledge. Have a great day, and thanks!
Ehab says
Hello Sarah,
Very valuable, informative and well-written article, actually my wife is in the last month now and we can’t wait to see our angel 🙂 and this website will be very informative in the future as well as now for me and my wife, by the way, thanks Sarah for this great post and amazing website, keep sharing great post.
Hi Ehab. Congratulations on your little one to be! It’s always wonderful to hear about Christmas babies. Is this your first one? Let me know how things go and what you have questions on. I’m always here to help and listen! Come back soon, best!
RachelLouise56 says
What a great article! I always knew that exercise was great for producing endorphins and helping with endurance, but who knew you could use it to learn to control/minimize pain! I like how you come at this from a simple approach, coaxing 15 minutes a day to begin with. That’s something everyone can do, no matter how fit. Then, over time, it gets easier and easier to do more and more, which only benefits you in the long run! Great article, thanks for sharing!
Everything gets easier the more and more we do it. Thanks for your comment, Rachel. Let me know if you’re ever looking for anything else. Cheers!
Dylan says
Hey i really like the design of the website and it looks really nice. Everything is easy to navigate and you can jump from article to article.
Childbirth seems like the most painful experience out there. so it really seems like it would be smart to learn how to manage the pain. It doesnt seem like it would take that much effort either
Thanks for the information. it was def worth the read.
Hi Dylan. Having gone through it myself, I don’t believe for one minute that childbirth is the most painful thing to physically experience. That’s why I want to help other moms experience their births in a positive way, knowing that it isn’t all that it’s perceived to be.
Thanks for commenting, please share! Have a great weekend!
John says
Glad I found this post cause this is very intresting and something I had no idea about, not that I need to know how to have less pain when giving birth to a child :o) But I work out a lot and I did not know that it actually makes me fell less pain when pain occurs… It sounds really logical really when I think about it. That is awesome and thanks for teaching me something new, and one more thing that motivates me to keep going hard with my workouts! Thanks again/ John
Hi John! You’re quite right about how it’s beneficial to everyone, not just pregnant women. Haven’t you ever wondered why people who exercise regularly just plain feel better? It’s for the very same reasons. Please share and comment more on what you like. Thanks!
dragon101999 says
i like your website and the quality of your content. I am going to recommende it to my friends and specially my wife. I am doing exercice every day and i know it’s increasing my endorphins ( i like it). It’s only benefits !!!
Keep posting, i am following you.
have a nice day 🙂
You’re right, it’s only endorphins. But there are so many other improvements at play too. I’m glad you enjoy the site. Feel free to share and comment any time, thanks!