The Connections Bridgewater Somerville Edition June 2025

HEALTH & WELLNESS

PAGE 19

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THE ART OF LIVING By Barry Farber, Diamond Minds e Pain/Pleasure Principle A ll humans have one thing in common. We are

choice would you feel better having? · Fried chicken/T-bone steak with macaroni and cheese, ice cream, and cake for dessert or... · Salad with broccoli, mushrooms, chickpeas, carrots, walnuts, lentil soup, and fruit for dessert? Sure, that steak makes some people’s mouths water. Maybe you won’t have the same excitement if you choose the sal ad. Here’s the scenario. At rst, it was men tally painful for me to go to a steakhouse with 20 people and order a cauli ower steak and salad for dinner. But guess what? Here are a few of the pleasures a er that painful decision. You feel amazing that evening, the next day, and for the rest of your life because you made food your medicine, not the other way around. Believe it or not, a er 30 or more days, your taste buds begin to change, and all the healthy foods start to taste bet ter. You’re fueling your body with healthier choices. (By the way, it’s OK to enjoy cake and certain pleasures once in a while; I’m not against that... I’m just citing an exam ple.) Here’s another bene cial example. I have worked with various training methods in martial arts to increase strength and resil iency over the years. One is rolling on var ious surfaces like grass, sand, cement, and wood, or weighted steel rings around your arms, slamming into your muscle tissue and bones over time. At rst, there is a little pain,

but it goes away a er a while. But here’s the interesting phenomenon that took place. I recently had a bad fall from a ight of stairs with steel rings on my arm. Yet there were no bruises or pain from that fall. A er that, I spoke with a cardiovascular surgeon who explained that all those minor hits over time create microscopic tears in your muscle - bers, and they become stronger and more resilient over time. Most of us are afraid of pain because we don’t realize that there are many lessons to be learned from embracing pain for future pleasure. Barry Farber is a best-selling author, an award-winning radio and television host, as well as an agent and marketing consul tant for corporations, professional athletes, and entertainers. He’s also the creator and marketer of the FoldzFlat® Pens. His latest release is an inspirational children’s book, “In Search of the Magic Tree,” available at www.barryfarber.com. Tune into his new TV Show, Diamond Minds, now on Brinx.tv and follow @barryfarbero cial.

and feeling miserable a erward. en he mentioned the Seesaw Metaphor. “If you indulge in pleasure rst (like drugs, alco hol, etc.), dopamine is released, and you’re riding high on the seesaw, but there’s al ways the pain from withdrawal when your body then craves that dopamine chemical and you go low on the seesaw. Alternative ly, you can experience ‘pain’ rst (working out, running, ice bath, reading, getting your mind to do something di cult), and be low on the seesaw, then your brain/ body rewards you a erward with the re lease of dopamine.” According to recent data, nearly 50% of Americans claim to actively try to eat healthier, with many citing healthy eating as a top priority. However, barriers like cost and time constraints o en hinder their e orts, with a signi cant portion still consuming fast food regularly. So, what is painful about how we eat? It has to do with the choices we make. For instance, let’s say you’re deciding on what to have when you’re out for dinner. What

fundamentally guided by the “pain-pleasure principle”, which means we are motivated to seek pleasure and avoid pain. is is understandable. Nobody goes around looking for painful experiences, right? Well, maybe we should. at’s not to say we need to go out and actively search for ways to experience pain. Pain happens to us all, whether it’s an ac tual physical injury, depression, loss, men tal anguish, or needing to make a di cult choice. We need to learn to deal with pain when it inevitably appears in our lives. I was having a conversation with my son when he brought up research. He found that the brain releases dopamine when one has pleasure from drugs or al cohol, but then the brain makes us pay for the pain with depression, withdrawals,

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