Stress: all of us have experienced it at some point. But not only does it take a toll on us mentally, it can reduce our ability to withstand physical pain. This is according to new research published in the journal Pain.

Share on Pinterest Men who experienced high levels of psychological stress were found to be less able to withstand physical pain.

In a study of 29 men, the research team – led by Prof. Ruth Defrin of the Department of Physical Therapy at Tel Aviv University in Israel – found that psychological stress significantly increases pain intensity while reducing the ability to cope with it.

The participants were required to take part in the Montreal Imaging Stress Task (MIST), a computer-based algorithm designed to induce psychological stress.

The researchers describe MIST as a “psychological trick.” It involves participants answering a number of test questions. Prior to responding to the questions, they are told that the average score a person achieves is 80-90%. However, participants are unable to score above 45%, no matter how hard they try, causing them to become psychologically stressed.

Before and after the MIST test, the participants underwent a series of experiments that assessed their threshold to heat pain and their ability to cope with this type of pain. For example, in one experiment, the participants were exposed to a gradually increasing heat stimulus and were asked to indicate at what point they felt pain.

The researchers divided the participants into groups based on their stress levels as measured by the MIST test, before assessing how stress affected their ability to withstand pain.