Study: Thalamic CGRP neurons define a spinothalamic pathway for affective pain (PNAS, 2025)
Takeaway: There are two components to pain: one is the intensity of the pain signal reported by our neural network and that is measurable, capable of comparisons and the same in terms of experienced intensity for everyone who experiences the exact same stimulus. The other is the emotional component of pain which allow us to make an emotional calculation on how much we can bear. That part of it is different for every individual and it depends on a wide variety of internal factors that have to do with motivation, experience and expectations.
David’s Note: In many of the podcasts where I discussed the research behind Built To Last we ended up discussing the impact emotions have on our motivation, the discomfort that is felt when we exercise and the way the brain and our own understanding of why we do the things we do, affect what we experience.
Relevant Podcast: The Mindset Medicine podcast with Katharine Loucaidou.