Sikhing Discomfort

In the mornings and evenings, Mom used to play Sikh hymns on the stereo. The solemn chanting reverberated throughout every corner of the house as incense smoke curled its way around the ceiling. Nowhere was beyond their reach. I knew the hymns were important, that they were trying to tell me something essential. If only I could decipher the code. Most of the hymns are in Gurmukhi, a mix of Sanskrit, Urdu, Punjabi and Hindi. And it’s written in verse so it can be damn near inscrutable at times. However, every now and then, I’d come across something that my mind wanted to chew over and over. 

This stanza always stuck out to me. 

Dukh daru

Sukh rog pehya 

Pain is medicine

Ease becomes disease

It’s not glorifying suffering. It’s simply saying, healing and growth come with discomfort. 

Your muscles have to rip before they grow and get stronger.

And if they are comfortable for too long, they atrophy.

In her book, Dopamine Nation, Anna Lembke, an addiction psychiatrist at Stanford, lays out the psychological & neurological reasons pain can be useful. 

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that helps motivate us. A reward chemical. 

Our brains have a dopamine baseline. This is our neutral. If we are above this baseline and we are getting a surge of dopamine, we are happy and motivated. If we dip below this baseline and are running low on dopamine, we are depressed and unmotivated. 

But dopamine is a finite resource. Seeking pleasure often leads to a dopamine crash after a high and leaves us in much pain.

I think this explains why so many wealthy industrialized nations find themselves with high levels of depression and suicide rates despite having so much pleasure and material goods, just a click away. (There are other more severe mental illnesses that need medical assistance for people to escape them so this does not apply to every situation. Not everyone’s brain works the same.)

Lembke’s suggestions for dealing with this problem are quite extensive and thorough, but the gist is: to avoid real pain, we must pursue discomfort or abstain from pleasure in concentrated doses. 

It sounded like a cosmic bitch slap to me too, but once I began to put the theories to the test, 

I realized I could actually feel sustainable pleasure and satisfaction from pursuing discomfort and not have a depressive hangover after. So I put a stop to pure comfort seeking for a while.

Lembke mentioned exercise, fasting, and ice baths as ways you can pursue moderated discomfort and help balance your dopamine levels. 

Exercise showed a 100-200% increase in dopamine levels that didn’t crash out quickly. It was a more long lasting dopamine high and had a gradual leveling off that doesn’t leave you reeling from a crash. 

I make it a point to exercise every day now even if it’s for 15-20 minutes. I put on music and start slow and with good breathing. It leaves me feeling accomplished on top of the endorphins and dopamine boost. It’s also fun to live in your body. I’m usually so stuck in my head that spending time intentionally moving and pushing my body makes me appreciate it and all it is capable of even more.

Fasting is also a great way to moderately increase your discomfort and boost dopamine. I try to go at least 16 hours between my last evening meal and my first meal of the next day. I’ve even done a 28 hour fast and found the effects startling. I was not lethargic or low energy or even grumpy. Running on ketones (energy source after glucose runs out) is much more sustainable and enjoyable. 

Staying hungry for a few extra hours can be such a gift to your body and mind as it allows it to go into a stage of autophagy (self eating). Your body starts to break down old cells to make way for new ones. This can significantly reduce inflammation in the body as well which is a major source of pain and discomfort and cause of disease. Fasting also boosts HGH (Human Growth Hormone - naturally occurring) in the body and encourages healing and regeneration in cells.

There’s a reason so many religions have fasting built into them from Lent to Ramadan. It’s good for you. We weren’t designed to constantly be digesting. It takes time and energy away from other biological processes. And when I go long periods of time without eating, I tend to enjoy the simple foods so much more that I may not even crave anything extravagant. It resets my palette and makes me grateful. And gratitude itself is a mood enhancer. 

As for the ice baths, I was more hesitant to start those because I hate being cold.

Then I discovered Yes Theory and The “Ice Man” Wim Hoff. 

Yes Theory is a group of friends and YouTubers who put themselves in uncomfortable situations to see if they can figure their way out. Sometimes they travel to a new country and try to find their way around without a map or try to make their way home without money.

They operate on the belief that most people are good and want to help you. And that seeking discomfort brings growth and joy. I’ll link to their channel down below.

They teamed up with Wim Hoff  to make a documentary about how Hoff defies belief by climbing frozen mountains barefoot and in shorts. He has set all sorts of records of pushing physical and mental boundaries. He can sit fully submerged in ice for 2 hours without his core body temperature changing. 

Hoff has an identical twin who never trained like he did and the twin lacks such abilities. He has trained many others to be able to push the same limits he does. So he’s not just a genetic anomaly. He’s just made a habit of doing uncomfortable things regularly.

I watched that documentary ready to be skeptical but slowly started changing my mind as I watched what unfolded. It’s available on YouTube and I encourage you to check it out because it’s a joyful foray into the possibilities and strength of the human body and mind.

I started employing the Wim Hoff breathing technique daily and felt immediate results. The breathing helps alkalize the blood and allows you to get a jolt of adrenaline that reduces pain and increases focus. It also increases blood flow all around the body - this delivers more nutrients and power to the muscles and other essential organs. 

The breath work also allows you to endure a cold shower a bit easier.

The cold showers are a test of mental strength for sure but have proven to raise dopamine levels similar to exercise. I’ve even sat in a cold lake for 7 minutes and sat in the snow in just a t-shirt and shorts to test my limits and it’s been super fun to see my progress.

I’m encouraged by the results. I sleep better and feel better. I don’t succumb to depression nearly as often or as deeply as I did only a year or so ago. (Despite the world having gotten seemingly worse).

I’m also more primed to pursue other discomforts, like changing jobs and learning new things or forming new relationships. Getting the brain and body accustomed to small amounts of discomfort makes you more resilient in all aspects of life. 

I attribute a lot of this to habit creation and consistency. The compounding effect is powerful and not just applicable to money. I’m excited to see how my mind and body will feel in 6 months to a year!

I know habit creation is not easy. Atomic Habits by James Clear is an excellent resource on how to successfully create new habits/routines and change behaviors. We are routine and comfort loving creatures. New habits, especially uncomfortable ones are likely to meet much resistance. It’s okay. It takes time but it also takes systems and planning. Read my blog on habit creation to learn how to better employ it to your life.

Let me know if you end up pursuing any of the above mentioned techniques, or any of your own, in the pursuit of seeking discomfort. I’d love to hear your stories. 

Bye for now. May good things come your way.

Love,

Gia