Don't put up with chronic pain. Doing so could age your brain.

A small decrease in gray matter is a normal part of advanced aging. Chronic pain appears to lead to similar declines, a new study revealed. The longer the study participants lived with chronic pain, the greater was their loss of neocortical gray matter, regardless of age. Seek treatment promptly for chronic pain to help keep your brain young.

Chronic pain can be debilitating and put you at increased risk of depression and anxiety. Now, a new study revealed that people with chronic back pain had as much as 5-11 percent less neocortical gray matter than their pain-free peers. They lost a little over one cubic centimeter of gray matter for every year they suffered with chronic pain. It is not clear what effect this loss in gray matter may have. However, treating pain early could decrease the chance that your pain becomes chronic and may help you avoid any complications related to chronic pain. Nip pain in the bud by seeking a diagnosis for any muscle aches or strains that last longer than two weeks or that interfere with your ability to participate in daily activities.

Chronic back pain is associated with decreased prefrontal and thalamic gray matter density. Apkarian, A. V., Sosa, Y., Sonty, S., Levy, R. M., Harden, R. N., Parrish, T. B., Gitelman, D. R., Journal of Neuroscience, 2004 Nov 17;24(46):10410-10415.