If your joints and muscles have been achy and sore for weeks (or months or even years), you’re not alone. As many as 76 percent of people over age 60 have chronic, or long-lasting, pain.* Sometimes the cause is clear — maybe you’re healing from surgery or an injury, or you have osteoarthritis. Other times, there’s no obvious explanation. Either way, pain is no fun. And it can get in the way of working or doing what you love. 

While pain medications can help, they’re often not ideal to use long term, says pain management specialist Medhat Mikhael, MD. He’s the medical director of the non-operative program at the Spine Health Center at Memorial Care Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, CA. Even over-the-counter (OTC) pain medicines carry a risk of side effects, like stomach bleeding and liver problems.

But the good news is that there are many other lifestyle strategies that can help. Here are some simple and effective solutions for finding relief from pain at the time of day it bothers you most.

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How to have less pain in the morning

1. Do some simple stretches 

Muscles and tendons tend to stiffen up during sleep. This can leave you feeling tight and uncomfortable when you wake up in the morning, says Kathryn Boling, MD. She’s a family medicine specialist at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore. The best way to increase blood flow to areas like your back, knees and hips is to loosen them up with stretches. Try these simple moves — all of which you can do while lying on your back in bed before you get up each morning:  

• Gently pull one or both knees into your chest to stretch your back. 

• Slowly bend and straighten both knees.  

• Rock both knees from side to side. 

2. Go for a morning walk

Once you’ve warmed up your joints with stretches, some movement can make you feel better. Under one condition: “Walk outdoors when it’s a warm, sunny day, not when it’s freezing cold,” says Dr. Mikhael. “A chilly temperature can actually cause muscles to tighten up more and make pain and stiffness worse.” 

It’s also important to walk on a flat surface, not up or down hills, which puts a lot of stress on your joints. If the weather isn’t cooperating, walk some laps around your home instead. 

3. Take a warm shower   

Warm water on tight muscles and joints can work wonders when it comes to relieving morning stiffness. Moist heat is even more effective than dry heat from something like a heating pad, says Dr. Boling. Just keep the water warm — not hot — so you don’t irritate inflamed muscles and joints, she adds. 

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4. Eat a good breakfast  

If you do take medications or supplements such as fish oil to relieve pain, it’s important to take them with food. This can help avoid a possible stomach upset, says Dr. Boling. “You also need to make sure you drink plenty of fluids to help keep joints lubricated,” she adds. Some good breakfast options: whole-grain cereal with low-fat milk and berries, or a berry smoothie made with low-fat milk.

How to have less pain during the day

5. Take a brain break  

You may notice that as the day progresses, your pain gets worse. One reason is stress. “When you’re stressed, your body releases hormones like cortisol and adrenaline that are very inflammatory,” says Dr. Mikhael. “Plus, when you’re anxious, you tend to tighten up muscles instinctively, which puts even more stress on your joints. A vicious cycle develops, where your pain creates more stress, which in turn worsens pain.”

One way to break the cycle of pain is by trying a mindfulness exercise. Mindfulness is the practice of paying attention to the here and now without passing judgment — positive or negative — on what’s happening in the moment.* Examples of mindfulness exercises include:*

• Sitting quietly for a few minutes and paying attention to your breath 

• Doing a body scan, where you mentally check in with how your body is feeling from head to toe 

• Closing your eyes and listening to the sounds all around you 

Research shows that these sorts of activities can help reduce your body’s perception of pain, which makes it easier to handle.*

6. Change the menu  

Foods that are processed or high in fat or sugar may be tasty, but they also promote inflammation, which can worsen arthritis, says Dr. Mikhael. Fortunately, there are plenty of other delicious foods you can eat that won’t make pain worse. 

A Mediterranean diet includes many foods that don’t often trigger inflammation. It’s mostly free of refined grains like white bread and pasta, processed and packaged foods, and foods with added sugars. Instead, a Mediterranean diet focuses on fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds, as well as healthy fats like fatty fish, avocados and olive oil. 

"These foods are all rich in antioxidants and good fats that help reduce inflammation,” says Dr. Mikhael. One study published in the journal Biomedicines, for example, reported that eating a Mediterranean diet helped reduce pain and stiffness in people with inflammatory and rheumatoid arthritis.*

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Aetna® Dual Eligible Special Needs Plan, or D-SNP, members get an Extra Benefits Card with a monthly benefit amount called a “Wallet” to spend on healthy foods and other approved items and services. Learn more about our plans today.

7. Keep moving 

If you find that you spend most of your day sitting, try to get up and move every 30 to 60 minutes. It doesn’t have to be much. Just take a quick walk across the room or do a couple of stretches, suggests Dr. Boling. “Any sort of movement increases blood flow to muscles and joints throughout the body, which helps reduce pain,” she explains.  

One good exercise to try is a lunge stretch. To do it: 

• Stand with your left leg forward, knee slightly bent, your left foot flat on the floor.  

• Shift your weight forward, leading with your hips, until you feel a stretch in your right upper thigh. This is your hip flexor, which can tighten up after you’ve been sitting for long periods of time. 

• Hold for 10 to 30 seconds (you may need to hold a chair for support).  

• Repeat with your other leg.*

How to have less pain at night

8. Switch up your sleeping position  

Sleeping on your stomach may cause morning pain,* says Dr. Mikhael. It puts your neck in an unnatural position and puts pressure on your spine.* He recommends sleeping on your back with a pillow under your knees to keep your spine neutral. Or sleep on your side with a pillow between your knees. 

It’s also a good idea to follow the Goldilocks rule when it comes to pillows and mattresses: “Not too soft, and not too hard, but somewhere in between,” says Dr. Mikhael.  

 9. Play with temperature 

It can be difficult to nod off at night if you’re in pain. But getting enough sleep — and especially high-quality sleep — can make a huge difference in how well you can tolerate discomfort when you’re awake, says Dr. Boling. To help bring on sleep, she recommends that you set your thermostat to about 65 degrees Fahrenheit. 

 “Our bodies naturally experience a slight dip in core temperature at night. So turning it down in the house as well helps signal to your body that it’s time for bed,” she says. 

10. Get a good rubdown  

One safe option to help relieve nighttime pain is an over-the-counter cream with a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) like diclofenac, says Dr. Mikhael. Research shows that they work well to relieve pain. Plus, the very act of massaging the cream into your skin may help relax you enough that you easily drift off into dreamland.

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Many Aetna members get a monthly allowance or “Wallet” to stock up on OTC essentials like pain relievers and cold and flu remedies. (Prescription drugs are not included.) Schedule a call to learn more about the benefits of being an Aetna D-SNP member.

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*FOR CHRONIC PAIN OVER AGE 60 SOURCE: Chan HKI, Chan CPI. Managing chronic pain in older people. Clinical Medicine Journal. July 2022. Accessed July 7, 2023.

* Basu A, Schell J, Scofield RH. Dietary fruits and arthritis. Food & Function. January 2018; 9(10): 70-77. Accessed June 13, 2022.    

*FOR MINDFULNESS DEFINITION SOURCE: Mindful. What is mindfulness? July 8, 2020. Accessed July 7, 2023.  

*FOR MINDFULNESS EXERCISES SOURCE: Mayo Clinic. Mindfulness exercises. October 11, 2022. Accessed July 7, 2023.

*FOR REDUCING PERCEPTION OF PAIN SOURCE: Mayo Clinic Health System.  Use mindfulness to cope with chronic pain. September 25, 2020. Accessed July 7, 2023.  

*FOR MEDITERRANEAN DIET SOURCE: Tsigalou C, Konstantinidis T, Paraschaki A, et al. Mediterranean diet as a tool to combat inflammation and chronic diseases. An overview. Biomedicines. July 2020; 8 (7); p: 201. Accessed July 7, 2023.

*FOR LUNGE STRETCH SOURCE: Arthritis Foundation. Relieve tension and stiffness with stretching. Accessed July 7, 2023.

*FOR SLEEPING ON STOMACH CAUSES PAIN SOURCE: Cleveland Clinic.  Is sleeping on your stomach bad? June 12, 2023. Accessed July 7, 2023.

*FOR NECK AND SPINE PAIN SOURCE: Cleveland Clinic. Best sleeping positions for pain. May 26, 2023. Accessed July 7, 2023.

*The 2023 Newsweek America's Best Customer Service rankings were identified from the results of an independent survey of more than 30,000 U.S. customers who have either made purchases, used services, or gathered information about products or services in the past three years. Customers evaluated several brands: in total over 200,000 evaluations were collected. The awarded brands each received on average 100 evaluations from customers. For more information visit https://www.newsweek.com/rankings/americas-best-customer-service-2023

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