Words for emotional pain

HEARTACHE Synonyms: 31 Synonyms & Antonyms for HEARTACHE

See definition of heartache on Dictionary.com

nounanguish, sorrow

synonyms for heartache

agony
bitterness
despair
grief
heartbreak
misery
pang
sadness
suffering
torment
affliction
dejection
depression
despondency
distress
dolor
hurting
remorse
torture
broken heart
heavy heart

antonyms for heartache

MOST RELEVANT

cheer
contentment
delight

gladness
happiness
health
joy
comfort
hopefulness
relief

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How to use heartache in a sentence

I’ll always cherish the experiences and wonderful adventures cycling has given me while also acknowledging that it has brought me plenty of heartache and disappointment, and I’m emotionally and mentally exhausted.

KATIE COMPTON ON USADA BAN: ”I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN A CLEAN ATHLETE”JVERSTEEGHAUGUST 12, 2021OUTSIDE ONLINE

On the 10th anniversary of the case, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office put out a video in which Rose’s mother, Candus Harer, who is also Summer’s grandmother, talked about the heartache.

SUMMER WELLS’ DAD SAYS HE’S HAUNTED BY HER AUNT’S DECADE-OLD DISAPPEARANCETRACY CONNORJULY 1, 2021THE DAILY BEAST

No stadium required During a major sporting event, fans look for a place to go — somewhere to share their joy or heartache with other fans.

IN THE WAKE OF COVID, SPORTS FANS HAVE GONE SOCIALTWITTEROCTOBER 22, 2020DIGIDAY

She said she and her co-workers could have avoided heartache if the company had simply addressed her questions and found FDA-authorized masks back in May.

FOREIGN MASKS, FEAR AND A FAKE CERTIFICATION: STAFF AT CSL PLASMA SAY CONDITIONS AT DONATION CENTERS AREN’T SAFEBY J. DAVID MCSWANESEPTEMBER 21, 2020PROPUBLICA

I'll wager those are seniors, who already feel a little heartache because their college years are so nearly over.

A HOOSIER CHRONICLEMEREDITH NICHOLSON

Should he condemn himself and Doris Cleveland to heartache and loneliness because of a technicality?

THE HIDDEN PLACESBERTRAND W. SINCLAIR

So there my darling boat lay idly in the lagoon—a useless thing, whose sight filled me with heartache and despair.

THE ADVENTURES OF LOUIS DE ROUGEMONTLOUIS DE ROUGEMONT

Her position is not a happy one, but she must smile and be gay and hide her heartache.

THE HIGHGRADERWILLIAM MACLEOD RAINE

But the great happiness that was Roland's was not without its heartache.

WITH SPURS OF GOLDFRANCES NIMMO GREENE

In half an hour Dotty had such a look of heartache in her face that Prudy longed to comfort her, only speech was forbidden.

DOTTY DIMPLE AT HOMESOPHIE MAY

WORDS RELATED TO HEARTACHE

affliction
agony
distress
dole
dolor
grief
heartache
heartbreak
hurting
misery
pang
rue
sorrow
suffering
throe
torment
torture
woe
wretchedness

agony
anguish
anxiety
concern
dejection
depression
desolation
despair
despondency
discomfort
disconsolateness
distraction
distress
fear
gloom
grief
heartache
melancholy
misery
pain
pang
sorrow
torture
trouble
unhappiness
worry

ache
affliction
anguish
anxiety
bad news
blues
care
concern
cross
dejection
desolation
disappointment
discomfort
disquietude
dolor
embarrassment
grief
headache
heartache
heartbreak
irritation
malaise
misery
mortification
ordeal
pang
perplexity
sadness
shame
sorrow
stew
suffering
throe
torment
torture
trial
tribulation
trouble
twinge
unconsolability
unhappiness
vexation
visitation
woe
worriment
worry
wretchedness

ache
affliction
anguish
anxiety
bad news
blues

care
concern
cross
dejection
desolation
disappointment
discomfort
disquietude
dolor
embarrassment
grief
headache
heartache
heartbreak
irritation
malaise
misery
mortification
ordeal
pang
perplexity
sadness
shame
sorrow
stew
suffering
throe
torment
torture
trial
tribulation
trouble
twinge
unconsolability
unhappiness
vexation
visitation
woe
worriment
worry
wretchedness

anguish
blues
dejection
depression
despondence
despondency
doldrums
downheartedness
dumps
gloom
glumness
grief
heartache
heavy-heartedness
melancholy
mournfulness
sorrow
unhappiness
woe

agony
distress
grief
heartache
heartbreak
passion
ruth
sadness
sorrow
suffering

167 Synonyms & Antonyms of DISTRESS

See Definition

distress 1 of 2

See Dictionary Definition

as in agony

a state of great suffering of body or mind the upcoming bar exam is causing us considerable distress the survivors were in extreme distress after having been stranded on the island for a week with no food

agony
anguish
pain
misery
discomfort
torment
tribulation
woe
hurt
torture
sadness
sorrow
hardship
pang
excruciation
travail
affliction
danger
difficulty
heartbreak
trouble
unhappiness
strait(s)
emergency
rack
heartache
ache
cross
joylessness
jeopardy
soreness
crucible
twinge
smarting
pinch
trial
stitch
asperity
rigor
throe

relief
alleviation
comfort
consolation
solace
ease
assuagement
security
peace
well-being

relief
alleviation
comfort
consolation
solace
ease
assuagement
security
peace
well-being

as in danger

the state of not being protected from injury, harm, or evil a ship in distress

danger
risk
jeopardy
trouble
peril
endangerment
imperilment
threat
helplessness
vulnerability
harm's way
precariousness
susceptibility
exposure
openness
weakness
liability
defenselessness
susceptibleness

safety
security
salvation
protection
preservation
secureness
defense
immunity
safeness
exemption
impunity
inviolability
invulnerability

safety
security
salvation
protection
preservation
secureness
defense
immunity
safeness
exemption
impunity
inviolability
invulnerability

distress

2 of 2

as in to alarm

to trouble the mind of; to make uneasy don't let all the bad news distress you

alarm
concern
anger
worry
disturb
bother
distract
discomfort
plague
disquiet
dismay
upset
agitate
discompose
unsettle
distemper
annoy
ail
haunt
exercise
flurry
irritate
fuss
perturb
frazzle
aggravate
derail
confuse
undo
exasperate
alarum
rattle
unhinge
hagride
weird out
embarrass
harass
vex
harry
fluster
freak (out)
bug
irk
fret
discourage
pique
put off
pester
chafe
discomfit
gall
grate
put out
rile
peeve
disconcert
nettle
bedevil
get
dispirit
chivy
abash
confound
discountenance
nonplus
shake up
mortify
dishearten
chivvy
faze
unnerve
jar
demoralize
daunt

soothe
calm
alleviate
settle
quiet
allay
assuage
compose
tranquillize
tranquilize
pacify
mollify
placate
appease
conciliate
propitiate

soothe
calm
alleviate
settle
quiet
allay
assuage
compose
tranquillize
tranquilize
pacify
mollify
placate
appease
conciliate
propitiate

Synonym Chooser

How does the noun distress differ from other similar words?

Some common synonyms of distress are agony, misery, and suffering. While all these words mean "the state of being in great trouble," distress implies an external and usually temporary cause of great physical or mental strain and stress.

the hurricane put everyone in great distress

When might agony be a better fit than distress?

In some situations, the words agony and distress are roughly equivalent. However, agony suggests pain too intense to be borne.

in agony over the death of their child

When is misery a more appropriate choice than distress?

While in some cases nearly identical to distress, misery stresses the unhappiness attending especially sickness, poverty, or loss.

the homeless live with misery every day

When could suffering be used to replace distress?

The synonyms suffering and distress are sometimes interchangeable, but suffering implies conscious endurance of pain or distress.

the suffering of famine victims

Thesaurus Entries Near

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distraught

distress

distressed

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Naomi Eisenberger on why it hurts physically to be rejected - T&P

Biologist and social psychologist Naomi Eisenberger argues that the experience of social or mental pain is not a fantasy out of thin air, but an evolutionary mechanism formed as a result of the need for social association - which ultimately leads to survival.

If you listen carefully to how people describe their experiences of social exclusion, you'll notice an interesting pattern: we use words for physical pain to describe psychologically distressing events, such as "my heart is broken." In fact, there are several ways of expressing feelings of rejection in English, not just those that usually refer to physical pain. However, the use of such words to denote alienation or isolation is typical of other languages, not just English.

Why do we describe experiences of social exclusion in terms of physical pain? Is the feeling of social isolation really comparable to physical pain, or is it just a figure of speech? In a laboratory study, we suggested that the "pain" of social rejection (social pain) is not just a lexical expression. Through a series of studies, my colleagues and I have shown that socially painful experiences, such as separation or isolation, excite processes in the same nerve regions as physical pain. Here I present the data that led us to believe that processes in physical and social pain overlap, as well as studies that directly test this overlap. I will show some, perhaps unexpected, consequences of this coincidence, as well as what this general neural circuit means for us and what it says about social pain.

Does rejection really hurt? While it may seem a bit of a stretch to say that rejection “hurts,” it makes some evolutionary sense that the suffering of physical and social pain overlaps. As a mammalian species, humans are born quite immature, unable to provide themselves with food and protection. Therefore, babies, in order to survive, need to be always close to those who care for them. Later, belonging to a social group becomes critical to survival; its members benefit from the shared responsibility of foraging for food, fighting predators, and caring for children. Based on the fact that social isolation is so detrimental to humans, it has been suggested that during our evolutionary history, the social attachment system has evolved along the lines of the physical pain system, borrowing the pain signal as a stimulus from social separation. It is likely that social bonding was so important to survival that the pain associated with physical injury was included to provide the same anguish of social isolation—so that people would strive to avoid isolation and remain close to others.

Subsequent studies confirmed these initial findings. Subjects who admitted to feeling unwanted more often in everyday life showed more neural activity in response to an episode of social rejection. In some cases, simply looking at stimulus pictures activates nerves associated with bodily pain.

Human and animal studies have shown that similar processes occur in physical and social pain. They originate in two areas of the brain: in the anterior cingulate cortex and, to a lesser extent, in the anterior lobe of the brain. Both are involved when mammals are in physical pain or suffer from isolation.

With regard to physical pain, the anterior cingulate cortex and the anterior lobe of the brain convey the emotional, unpleasant, element of the painful experience. It can be divided into two components: sensory, which provides information about where the pain stimulus is felt, and emotional, which captures the unpleasant sensations from the stimulus - as trivial as it is, it is. After neurosurgery, during which the anterior cingulate cortex is removed to relieve intractable chronic pain, patients have reported that they can still locate the stimulus but are no longer bothered by the pain. Similar symptoms were observed with damage to the anterior lobe. Damage to the somatosensory cortex - the area responsible for the localization of pain - makes it difficult for patients to determine where the pain comes from, but leaves sensory suffering. Neuroimaging also confirms this separation. Subjects who, under hypnosis, had an increase in the pain of a stimulus without changing the sensory component showed increased activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, and not in the primary somatosensory cortex, which is responsible for the sensory element of pain.

Interestingly, some of the neural pathways associated with pain also contribute to specific separation behaviors that manifest in the expression of suffering. Infants of many mammalian species make special pained sounds (for example, human children cry) when weaned from a caring subject. These sounds have an adaptive purpose (for adults, this is a signal to find a baby), that is, they prevent a long separation. The dorsal and ventral divisions play a major role in the production of these voiced sufferings. Damage to these zones in monkeys is eliminated by the vocalization of suffering, while electrical stimulation in macaques leads to spontaneous painful cries.

On the basis of data revealing neural regions involved in human physical pain and separation suffering in mammals, we decided to investigate whether these regions would play a role in human socially painful experiences. In one such study, each participant was told that they would be connected over the Internet to two other people and together they would play a game of passing the ball. The participant of the experiment was connected to the MRI scanner. Through special glasses, he saw virtual incarnations of two other players with their names, as well as his own hand. By pressing a button, the participant decided who to throw the ball to.

There were no other players in reality; the participants of the experiment played with a pre-installed computer program. In the first round they were included in the game all the time, and in the second round they were socially excluded because the other two players stopped throwing the ball to them. As a response to this rejection, subjects showed strong activation in the anterior cingulate cortex and in the anterior lobes of the brain, two regions associated with physical pain. Moreover, subjects who felt more strongly about the isolation episode ("I felt rejected", "I felt unwanted") also showed higher activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, supporting the suggestion that rejection does "pain".

Finally, separation or rejection are not the only triggers for the neural activity associated with pain. Other socially painful experiences, such as bereavement, also engage these neural pathways.

Subsequent studies confirmed these initial data. Subjects who admitted to feeling unwanted more often in everyday life showed more neural activity in response to an episode of social rejection. In some cases, simply looking at stimulus pictures activates nerves associated with bodily pain. For example, viewing paintings by Edward Hopper activated the anterior cingulate cortex and the anterior lobe of the brain. In addition, socially sensitive people, when watching a video of someone making a disapproving facial expression (a possible sign of social rejection), showed higher activity in the anterior cingulate gyrus.

Finally, separation or rejection are not the only triggers for the neural activity associated with pain. Other socially painful experiences, such as bereavement, also engage these neural pathways. In response to viewing images of a recently deceased mother or sister (along with photographs of unfamiliar women), the participants in the experiment showed increased activity in the anterior cingulate gyrus and anterior lobe. What's more, women who lost a baby due to induced abortion showed higher activity in the anterior cingulate cortex when viewing photos of smiling babies compared to those who gave birth to a healthy baby. So, various kinds of socially painful events, from rejection to loss, rely in part on those neural regions that play a direct role in bodily pain.

Within the intersection of physical and social pain, interesting results can be expected - for example, that people who are more sensitive to physical pain feel more acutely social pain, and vice versa. This is not a contrived hypothesis, it has been tested in several studies. The best evidence for this can be found in patient records - people with chronic illness are much more concerned about their relationship with their partner than healthy people, and depressed people with high social sensitivity are more susceptible to pain than those who control themselves.

The second result of the intersection of physical and social pain is that the factors of increase or decrease of one affect the other in the same measure. Thus, factors that are thought to reduce social pain (such as feeling socially supported) should also reduce physical pain, and those that reduce bodily pain (such as pain medication) also reduce social pain. We found evidence for both of these claims. To investigate whether social support reduces physical pain, we asked women to rate the discomfort of having a hot stimulus applied to their forearm while they performed various tasks. During one of the tasks they received social support (namely, holding the hand of a lover), during others they did not (for example, they held either the hand of a stranger or a soft ball). We found that the participants felt much less pain when holding their partner's hand than when they were with strangers. More interestingly, we found that participants felt much less pain when looking at pictures of their loved ones than when looking at pictures of strangers or objects. Obviously, even the thought of social support can reduce both physical and social pain.

When I talk about this experiment, people often ask, "If this is true, then painkillers can reduce the suffering of social pain?" The question is asked as a joke, because it seems incredible, but in fact, the answer to it is yes, they can. To test this idea, we investigated whether the drug Tylenol could reduce feelings of social pain. In the first such study, participants took a normal dose of Tylenol or a placebo for three weeks. They were asked to rate their daily level of pain. Those who took Tylenol reported a reduction in pain from 9days to 21, while those who took placebo did not notice any changes. In another study, people took Tylenol or a placebo for three weeks and then played a virtual ball-passing game (in which they were socially excluded at the end). As the MRI scanner showed, those who took Tylenol had less neural activity in response to social isolation. These studies prove that, as surprising as it may seem, the Tylenol pain reliever also relieves social suffering.

Although painful, the anguish and pain of broken social relationships serve a valuable function in maintaining close social bonds. Since rejection hurts, people are motivated to avoid situations where rejection is possible.

Several other consequences of the intersection of physical and social pain have also been investigated. One phenomenon can be better understood in light of this intersection - rejection-induced aggression. For years, people have puzzled over evidence that socially alienated subjects are more likely to act aggressively towards others. In fact, this is close to the truth - one has only to recall the frequent news about the shooting at the school, which was arranged by students who were later described as outsiders. In fact, there is some merit to the idea that rejection provokes aggression; although, it would seem, given the importance of maintaining social ties, why in a situation of isolation a person is predisposed to aggression rather than to prosocial behavior? Wouldn't it make more sense if he tried to restore social ties? However, in light of the intersection of physical and social pain, an aggressive response to isolation is more justified. It is well known from research that animals, as a reaction to a painful stimulus, attack those who are nearby. This is probably such an adaptive function: when there is a threat of physical damage, they attack. If the social pain system does include parts of the physical system, an aggressive response to social rejection may be a by-product of the response to bodily pain—such an inadequate adaptive function in a social context.

Another possible consequence of this intersection is the physiological stress that occurs in response to socially dangerous situations. It is well known that instances of physical threat elicit a physiological response (such as an increase in cortisol levels) to mobilize energy and resources. However, it has also been shown that socially dangerous situations - such as speaking in front of a strict or hostile audience - can lead to the same physiological reactions, also to an increase in cortisol levels. While it seems logical to mobilize energy in a physically dangerous situation, it is not clear why the body needs it when it can be negatively evaluated or rejected by others. However, if the threat of social rejection is interpreted by the brain in the same way as the threat of physical harm, physiological stress can be triggered in both situations.

One of the conclusions of the described discoveries is that separation or separation can undermine the body just as much as physical pain. Even if we take bodily pain more seriously and consider it a more legitimate cause for concern, the pain of social loss can be just as severe, as evidenced by the activation of the nervous system.

One may wonder why people have to bear this heavy burden - social and physical pain? Although painful, the anguish and heartache due to broken social relationships serve a valuable function, namely the maintenance of close social ties. Since rejection hurts, people are motivated to avoid situations where rejection is possible. Throughout evolutionary history, maintaining social ties has increased a person's chances of life and reproduction. The experience of social pain, although temporarily painful, is an evolutionary adaptation that promotes social cohesion and hence survival.

12 mysteries and paradoxes of pain

Yana Litvinova
BBC London

January 29, 2018

Image copyright, Getty Images

Image caption,

We all know that pain is an objective reality, but its perception is deeply subjective. Pain can be a symptom, a disease, mental or physical. How close are we to understanding what it is?

Acute, dull, sudden, chronic, aching, throbbing, blinding... This is not a complete list of epithets that we use without hesitation when talking about the sensation that we all experienced and continue to experience: pain.

Why is pain so difficult to measure and relieve?
Medicine of the future: how bioglass will revolutionize surgery
Why paper cuts are so painful

She doesn't care about skin color, eye shape, or social status. It doesn't care what level of evolution this or that creature is at. People, dogs, cats, dolphins, whales, birds, frogs, and even, according to scientists, earthworms experience pain.

At the same time, if scientists say that the mechanism of pain is more or less clear to them, then what is it: a signaling system of malfunctions, an obligatory part of being, without which it is impossible to understand physical and mental well-being, a purely physiological process or a result complex chemical processes in the brain, neither doctors nor even the clergy came to a unanimous agreement.

Image copyright, Getty Images

Image caption,

We know how the signaling system works from neurons to the brain and back, but many questions remain unanswered

In addition, there is a group of people who, due to a genetic anomaly, do not experience pain at all.

In fact, they do not need to envy, because they can easily miss the onset of some disease, and die, although painlessly, but completely in vain.

All our knowledge of pain is based on paradoxes.

1. Our brain registers pain signals, but does not feel it itself

Photo author, Getty Images

Photo caption,

The brain registers and processes pain signals from all other parts of the body, but does not feel pain itself

Let's say you twisted your ankle or burned your finger. The nerve fibers immediately send a signal to your brain that interprets the sensation as pain.

No wonder modern surgery became possible only after the discovery of anesthesia.

However, if the object of the operation is the brain itself, then pain medication is useless.

Nerve cells in the brain send themselves the same signals as in a broken limb, but there is no data center for them.

The brain, accustomed to being responsible for the whole organism, does not understand at all when it should hurt itself.

It's kind of creepy, but patients are often fully awake during brain surgery, which lets surgeons know if they've dug too deep into our body's main processing unit.

2. We all feel pain in different ways

Photo by DanielVilleneuve

Photo caption,

Pain is subjective: for some it's agony, but for others it's a slight inconvenience.

The fact that, after, say, a natural birth, one woman says that she was a little uncomfortable, but that's okay, and the other needs pain relief at the very beginning of the contractions, does not mean at all that one of them is stoic, and the other is weak slur.

How we feel pain is influenced by many factors: what chemical reactions are taking place in your brain at that time, whether there is an inflammatory process somewhere in your body, and how much you "remember" pain sensations that you experienced before .

As Kenneth Hansraj, head of the New York Spine Center, once said: “Someone can drill a tibia without anesthesia, and he will calmly tell you, they say, buddy, pull that thing out! the skin of a thin needle."

3. Pain can be distracted

The author of the photo, Portra

Photo caption,

Pain can be deceived: if you start shaking a bruised finger, it becomes easier

Our brain, of course, is the most complex computer ever or created by nature, but at the same time he is a little blunt.

The fact is that it is difficult for him to analyze several sensations at the same time.

Let's say you've been bitten by a mosquito and the bite is itchy. Attach an ice cube to it, and suddenly you will realize that you still feel the cold, but the itching is gone.

That's why we instinctively rub a bruised area or frantically shake a finger that is accidentally pinched by a door.

0004 Redheads have a hard time: fiery hair color is accompanied by a non-standard attitude to painkillers

It's hard to believe, but in 2009 an article appeared in the Journal of the American Dental Association, according to which redheads really do not like visiting dentists.

The fact is that the same genetic combination that gives them a fiery hair color makes them less susceptible to certain painkillers.

And sometimes they need a dose that is twice what would be enough for some brunette.

It is also possible that their body reacts to anesthesia in a way that is not entirely trivial. Some doctors, by the way, make adjustments for the patient's hair color.

5. Sex relieves pain

Image copyright, Getty Images

Image caption

Having sex can reduce migraine pain... if you have the energy to do it, of course

Well, objectively speaking, if you have a migraine attack, then sex in such a situation seems to be somewhat doubtful.

However, there are some statistics that show that 60% of migraine sufferers feel much better if they do it during an attack.

Sexual arousal produces endorphins in the brain, which are natural pain relievers.

By the way, things are not so simple with migraine patients. It is suspected that the same gene variant that bestows migraine sufferers at the same time significantly increases their libido.

6. We are mercilessly divided into women and men

The author of the photo, Getty Images

Image caption,

We all feel the same way, only men think that we should endure

In fact, there is no scientific evidence that that men and women experience pain differently.

Although doctors note that, in general, women are more likely to admit that they are in pain.

Perhaps this is due to a social stereotype that requires "real" men to endure with clenched teeth.

7. Those who don't feel pain

Image copyright, Getty Images

Image caption

Those who don't feel pain don't do so well: just touching a hot stove can result in a third-degree burn

This is a very rare genetic anomaly. So rare that in the entire history of medicine it has met only a few dozen times.

Those who are very unlucky to be born with it can, for example, feel whether an object is hot or cold, but they do not feel pain.

And this, by the way, is really bad. For example, accidentally touching a hot stove might result in a third-degree burn, instead of the small blister that would result if they quickly figured out what was happening and pulled their hand away.

According to available statistics (which, for quite obvious reasons, are extremely small), the average life expectancy of such insensitive people is significantly below the average.

8. The most common pain

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption,

The most common pain in developed countries is pain in the lower back.

This is back pain. Approximately 27% of people in developed countries claim to suffer from low back pain.

Whereas from constant headaches or migraines - only 15%. Experts advise not to disdain physical exercises and not to gain excess weight.

However, this is a consequence of our evolutionary successes. Bipedalism is not at all conducive to spinal health. Quadrupeds, in which the weight is distributed much more evenly, do not face back pain.

9. What hurt kings and dinosaurs

Photo copyright, Getty Images

Image caption,

Both kings and dinosaurs suffered from gout. True, there is a dragon here, but it is probably a close relative of the Tyrannosaurus rex

Gout, or arthritis, used to be called the disease of kings, because it was allegedly the result of excessive consumption of fatty foods and alcohol.

It is clear that in the distant Middle Ages only very wealthy people could afford it. We now know that gout pain is caused by the formation of sharp uric acid crystals inside the joints.

Examination of the skeletal upper limb of a female Tyrannosaurus rex (which palaeontologists named Sue) showed that this particular Jurassic predator also suffered from gout, and in a very advanced form. It is likely that Sue suffered from chronic pain throughout the last years of her life.

10. The nature of pain is not at all unambiguous

The author of the photo, Getty Images

Image caption,

Sometimes pain turns from a symptom into a disease. It hurts everywhere, and why is not clear

Pain is a symptom, which, however, gives only a general idea that something is wrong, but does not give any specifics.

And in patients suffering from central pain syndrome, the pain itself becomes the disease, not its symptom.

Such patients complain of pain throughout the body, with sensations ranging from "pins and needles" to "strong pressure". In this case, the brain is not just a registrar and processor of pain sensations, but also their main generator.

11. Don't underestimate your brain

The author of the photo, Getty Images

Image caption,

Don't underestimate your brain: it knows perfectly well what buttons to press and under what circumstances

evaluates the signals it receives, deciding how serious the danger is and whether immediate action should be taken.

Having received an alarm signal, the brain immediately tries to answer the main question: "How dangerous is this all really?"

In assessing the situation, our central processor uses all the information it has at its disposal: from subjective, coming from our past experience, to objective, obtained from the whole complex of physical and chemical parameters of the body.

And having received a signal, it sends "instructions" to the nerve endings on how to behave. Canadian physician Paul Ingram described the process in this imaginary dialogue:

Image copyright, Getty Images

Image caption,

The brain commands neurons as it wants, and they have to obey

Nerves: Problem! Problem! Huge! Big! Red alert! Turn on immediately!

Brain: Mmmmm, right? Okay, I took note. But guys, I have a database here, sorry, it's strictly secret, so take my word for it: it's not all that scary. Relax.

Nerves : No, no, listen, this is all very serious!

Brain: Nope, I don't believe it.

Nerves: Look, maybe we don't have access to this "information" that you talk about all the time, but we know very well what tissue damage is! And we're not playing games here. We won't shut up until you take action!

Brain (hypnotist voice): You don't remember what it was. There is absolutely no need to send me signals. Everything is absolutely fine, breathe deeply...

Nerves: Ah, yes... What are we talking about? Damn, it looks like they just wanted to report something important... Well, okay, we'll be back later.

12. The ultimate boss

Photo credit, Getty Images

Image caption,

The brain decides how to regulate the pain button in our body, and why sometimes it stops at six and sometimes at ten, we are up to we still don't know for sure

The brain can really twirl its peripheral nerve endings as it pleases.

If he doesn't like something, he can ask for more information. Or maybe order his subordinates not to fuss.

In recent years, a lot of information has appeared, according to which nerves in the periphery can actually change both physically and chemically, possibly following a command coming from the brain.

As the same Paul Ingram noted: "The brain can not only turn the button that controls the volume, but easily change all the equipment, changing the signal itself long before it enters the speakers.

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HEARTACHE Synonyms: 31 Synonyms & Antonyms for HEARTACHE

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