Saturday, June 27, 2009

CURRENT THOUGHT ON PAIN REDUCTION IN MYOFASCIAL PAIN SYNDROMES (Part 9)


Exercising Your Mind

In my last blog post we talked about the complexity of human beings regarding how health care must be approached in order to be effective. We also talked a bit about physical exercise as a component of health maintenance. Nutritional support in pain reduction was the subject of an earlier post. Today, the topic is the mental aspects of people.

Very little has as much affect on your overall well-being as mental acuity and attitude. This is, as with your health in general, not just the absence of a diagnosable condition. It is more the presence of a number of positive characteristics. The goal is to have a balance between all as
pects of your life; work, rest, recreation, exercise, etc. This takes recognition that good mental health is a result of as many different factors as good physical health. There are quite a number of good books on the subject for both professionals and lay-people.

Staying mentally active means different things to different people. For some, watching cable news stimulates thinking. For others, it may be visiting your favorite museum. I know people who can tell you baseball statistics for a given day. Any mental activity that stimulates your interest is probably helpful in maintaining mental fitness. Several web sites that I have found interestin
g are AddictingGames and Kongregate. They offer a large number of online activities that stimulate the mind. One of particular interest is called 6 Differences. To play this game through AddictingGames, follow "A-G 6 Differences". For the same game through Kongregate, click "K-6 Differences". The object, as the name suggests, is to find 6 differences between two, seemingly identical, scenes. Some differences are easy to find and others are very difficult. Most players, though, seem to enjoy the music and this stimulating activity.

Computer games are another enjoyable way to stay alert. There are a variety of genres under the computer game umbrella such as action, ro
le-playing, battle/war and others. I personally don't feel the need to challenge my reflexes any longer so I avoid those games that involve kill or be killed scenarios. My favorite games are in the problem solving genre. One series of games that has been around for many years is Myst. There are at least five games in the series. All require puzzle solving and integrative skills that help maintain mental acuity.

Whatever you find interesting, it is to your benefit to fi
nd things to do that entertain and stimulate your mind. Myofascial Pain Syndromes and Fibromyalgia are more likely to respond to the multi-faceted treatment plan than to any “take a pill” approach. Next time we’ll briefly discuss the interrelatedness of emotional-social-spiritual aspects of healing.

1 comment:

Bethane said...

Spot on! 6 Differences Game is both physiologically and psychologically stimulating and absolutely fascinating. I've completed the series twice and find enough complexities to revisit occasionally.