The pain/pleasure balance

The pain/pleasure balance is a concept that suggests that pleasure and pain are processed in the same area of the brain and work like opposite sides of a balance. This balance can be tipped towards pain when we experience cravings or desires that we cannot fulfill. This suggests that pleasure and pain are not separate entities but two sides of the same coin. They work like opposite sides of a balance, constantly tipping back and forth.

Even Socrates mused about the relationship between pain and pleasure 2,000 years ago:

How strange would appear to be this thing that men call pleasure! And
how curiously it is related to what is thought to be its opposite, pain!
The two will never be found together in a man, and yet if you seek the
one and obtain it, you are almost bound always to get the other as well,
just as though they were both attached to one and the same head. . . .
Wherever the one is found, the other follows up behind. So, in my
case, since I had pain in my leg as a result of the fetters, pleasure
seems to have come to follow it up

When we experience pleasure, such as indulging in a piece of chocolate or engaging in a favorite activity, dopamine is released in our reward pathway, and the balance tips to the side of pleasure. The more our balance tips and the faster it tips, the more pleasure we feel. However, the balance wants to remain level and in equilibrium. Therefore, self-regulating mechanisms kick into action to bring it back to a balanced state. These mechanisms do not require conscious thought or an act of will, they happen automatically.

On the other hand, when we experience pain or discomfort, the balance tips to the side of pain. Just as with pleasure, self-regulating mechanisms come into play to bring the balance back to equilibrium. This reciprocal relationship between pleasure and pain is known as the opponent-process theory. Any prolonged or repeated departures from hedonic neutrality have a cost, which is an after-reaction that is opposite in value to the stimulus.

One important aspect of the pain/pleasure balance is tolerance. With repeated exposure to the same or similar pleasure stimulus, the initial deviation to the side of pleasure gets weaker and shorter, while the after-response to the pain side gets stronger and longer. This process, known as neuroadaptation, means that we need more of the pleasurable stimulus to achieve the same level of pleasure. This can lead to a cycle of seeking more and more pleasure, which can be a factor in the development of addiction.

What to do with this knowledge? By intentionally engaging in painful activity, we can tip the pain balance in a way that we’ll feel pleasure (dopamine) afterward. One of the most potent tools for this is a cold shower. As a cold shower in the moment feels painful — the body would really like to do something else, we can have elevated dopamine levels for hours afterward, even helping with motivation and getting things done.

The pain/pleasure balance is a fundamental aspect of human experience. Tolerance plays a role in this balance, as repeated exposure to pleasure can diminish its effects and increase the desire for more. By understanding and managing this balance, we can strive for a healthier relationship with pleasure and pain in our lives.

To learn more about this, check out Dopamine Nation. It’s a fantastic read and goes way more in-depth. As this is such an important topic, I’ll cover more facets of this in the future.