The Mel Robbins Podcast

Feel Better Now: Neurosurgeon Reveals the New Science of Healing Your Body & Stopping Pain Today

Order your copy of The Let Them Theory 👉 https://melrob.co/let-them-theory 👈 The #1 Best Selling Book of 2025 🔥 Discover how much power you truly have. It all begins with two simple words. Let Them. — In today’s episode, you’re going to learn the new science of healing your body, stopping pain, and feeling better now. One of the world’s most respected neurosurgeons and medical experts alive is here to reveal the new frontiers in pain management and how you can feel better in your body starting today. Whether you’ve been living with a chronic condition, you’re dealing with an injury that just happened, or you’re listening for a loved one, you’re going to learn so much from our expert. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, MD is a world-renowned neurosurgeon, CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent, and author of the New York Times bestselling book, “It Doesn't Have to Hurt: Your Smart Guide to a Pain-Free Life.” In this conversation, you’ll learn: -The new science of chronic pain -Why your pain is real, even when doctors can’t find the cause -The groundbreaking pain management options that are available to you that work with your body's natural intelligent systems of healing -How to prevent acute injuries from turning into chronic pain -How your nervous system stores pain -The 5 steps to start feeling better -The biggest myths about healing (and what you should never do right after an injury) -Specific interventions you can try, without medication or surgery, to start feeling better now -How to support a loved one who is in pain or dealing with a chronic illness You’ll walk away with a new understanding of pain and a real path to relief – starting today. For more resources related to today’s episode, click here for the podcast episode page: https://www.melrobbins.com/episode/episode-334/ Follow The Mel Robbins Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themelrobbinspodcast I’m just your friend. I am not a licensed therapist, and this podcast is NOT intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, professional coach, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional. Got it? Good. I’ll see you in the next episode. In this episode: 00:00 Meet the Guest 03:08 What is Chronic Pain? 09:30 How to Use Your Mind to Control Pain 16:59 The Future of Pain Medicine 23:38 Why Meditation is a Powerful Tool in Managing Pain 29:23 The Incredible Rubber Hand Research Study That Proves We Can Fake Pain 37:12 Why Physical Activity is Important for Pain Management 44:58 Train Your Brain to Manage Pain 53:43 Why Does My Jaw Hurt? 56:46 How to Reduce Pain — Follow Mel: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melrobbins/ TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@melrobbins Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melrobbins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melrobbins Website: http://melrobbins.com — Sign up for Mel’s newsletter: https://melrob.co/sign-up-newsletter A note from Mel to you, twice a week, sharing simple, practical ways to build the life you want. — Subscribe to Mel’s channel here: https://www.youtube.com/melrobbins?sub_confirmation=1 — Listen to The Mel Robbins Podcast 🎧 New episodes drop every Monday & Thursday! https://melrob.co/spotify https://melrob.co/applepodcasts https://melrob.co/amazonmusic — Looking for Mel’s books on Amazon? Find them here: The Let Them Theory: https://amzn.to/3IQ21Oe The Let Them Theory Audiobook: https://amzn.to/413SObp The High 5 Habit: https://amzn.to/3fMvfPQ The 5 Second Rule: https://amzn.to/4l54fah

Dr. Sanjay GuptaguestMel Robbinshost

Oct 16, 20251h 8mWatch on YouTube ↗

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Neurosurgeon Unpacks How Your Brain Can Turn Chronic Pain Off

Mel Robbins interviews neurosurgeon and CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta about the new science of pain, emphasizing that most pain originates in the brain and is deeply influenced by lifestyle, emotions, and past experiences.
They distinguish acute from chronic pain, explain why chronic pain is exploding as a health problem, and show how factors like sleep, stress, depression, prior pain, and movement dramatically alter how much the same injury hurts.
Gupta argues that the medical system has over-medicated and over-operated on pain while underutilizing powerful non-drug approaches such as movement (MEAT vs. RICE), sleep optimization, psychotherapy, meditation, and even virtual reality.
The discussion is ultimately hopeful: because the brain is plastic, people can retrain their pain circuits and meaningfully reduce or even eliminate chronic pain by addressing both the physical injury and the “baggage” that sustains the pain loop.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Understand that all pain is processed in the brain—and that’s empowering, not minimizing.

Gupta stresses that pain is a brain output: if the brain doesn’t decide you have pain, you don’t experience it. This means that by changing brain inputs (sleep, mood, expectations, attention, therapy), you can change pain, even when the original injury has healed.

Treat chronic pain like a chronic disease and address the ‘baggage’ driving it.

Chronic pain almost never exists alone; it’s tightly linked with depression, anxiety, poor sleep, stress, and prior pain history. Tackling these factors—often with help from psychologists or mental health professionals—is essential to reducing pain intensity and preventing acute pain from becoming chronic.

Swap RICE for MEAT: movement is protective against chronic pain.

Instead of defaulting to rest, ice, compression, and elevation, Gupta highlights the MEAT approach—Mobilize, Exercise, Analgesia, Treatment (e.g., PT). Allowing some inflammation and early movement after non-surgical injuries appears to reduce the risk that pain will linger for months or years.

Optimize sleep as a primary pain treatment, not just a casualty of pain.

Sleep and pain have a bi‑directional relationship: pain impairs sleep, and poor sleep heightens pain and chronic pain risk. Studies show that directly improving sleep quality can significantly lower pain scores, sometimes more effectively than simply escalating pain medications.

Use mind–body tools (meditation, VR, expectation) to trigger your endogenous opioid system.

Experiments show that meditation and immersive VR can drop pain scores as much as a low dose of OxyContin by activating the body’s own opioid system, which reduces pain, dampens painful memories, and improves mood—unlike external opioids that often worsen mood and cement pain memories.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

All pain is in the brain. If your brain doesn't decide you have pain, then you don't have pain.

— Dr. Sanjay Gupta

Chronic pain hardly ever occurs in isolation. It always comes with baggage attached.

— Dr. Sanjay Gupta (quoting a pain doctor he interviewed)

We are not even 5% of the world's population, and we were taking 90% of the world's pain medications.

— Dr. Sanjay Gupta

We treat symptoms far more than we treat root causes, and I think pain is probably the best example of that in society.

— Dr. Sanjay Gupta

It doesn't have to hurt as long. It doesn't have to hurt as bad.

— Dr. Sanjay Gupta

The difference between acute and chronic pain and how chronic pain developsPain as a brain-based, integrated experience shaped by biology, psychology, and environmentThe role of ‘baggage’ (depression, anxiety, sleep, stress, pain history) in amplifying painOver-medicalization of pain (opioids, surgeries) versus treating root causesNon‑drug interventions: movement, the MEAT protocol, nerve blocks, VR, meditationNeuroplasticity and retraining the brain’s pain circuits and memory loopsPractical strategies for patients and loved ones living with chronic pain

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