Many people with chronic pain open the cupboards and refrigerator to cope, new research shows.
As many as two-thirds of people living with chronic pain – pain that lasts more than three months – reported eating as a way to distract themselves from their discomfort, the study found. People also reported eating comfort foods, especially chocolate, to find pleasure and relief from negative emotions.
MORE: Opioid used by millions for pain management only has 'slight effect,' study warns
At the same time, nearly 40% of the 141 people with chronic pain surveyed for the study also met the clinical definition for obesity, a chronic condition that can lead to heart disease and diabetes. Obesity affects 2 in 5 people in the United States.
Comfort eating occurs when people consume food for reasons other than being hungry, often when stressed, depressed or in physical pain – as this study suggests. Often this type of eating involves quickly gorging on food without much enjoyment, a sort of binge eating, according to the Mayo Clinic.
The main reason people with chronic pain engaged in comfort eating, also known as emotional eating, was "to have a pleasurable experience," the new study says.
"Comfort eating wasn't just for the purpose of distraction or numbing negative feelings, although those were important too," Amy Burton, one of the study's authors, said in a release. "For many, eating comfort foods provided a nice experience in their day and something to look forward to. If you're living with pain all the time, that moment of pleasure becomes a pretty powerful motivator."
Emotional eating to reduce pain makes some biological sense, the researchers said.
"Short-term, high-calorie food makes people feel better. It reduces pain symptoms and enhances pain tolerance," said Toby Newton-John, head of the Graduate School of Health at the University of Technology Sydney, where the study was conducted. "Long-term, it can fuel weight gain and inflammation, which increases pressure on joints and makes pain worse; and that can trap people in a spiral that's very hard to break."
How to reduce comfort eating
The Mayo Clinic recommends the following techniques to reduce comfort eating:
• Ask whether your craving is actual hunger or driven by emotions. If it's the latter, give the craving time to pass.
• Keep a food diary that tracks when and what you eat to start to recognize eating patterns.
• Talk to family and friends or join a support group.
• Don't keep high-calorie, high-carbohydrate foods at home or grocery shop when hungry.
• Make sure to eat sufficient healthy foods and allow yourself a treat every now and then.