Dr. Peter Attia

There seems to be kind of, I guess I should ask this. I'm not asserting this is the case. Is there kind of a moral judgment that comes to this at some level? Like, don't we as a society just tend to look more favorably at people that have a very high pain tolerance?

There seems to be kind of, I guess I should ask this. I'm not asserting this is the case. Is there kind of a moral judgment that comes to this at some level? Like, don't we as a society just tend to look more favorably at people that have a very high pain tolerance?

So when you go through that experiment you just did with the medical students, if everybody's being brutally honest, aren't they kind of looking at the people who score 0, 1, 2 more favorably than those that score 8, 9, and 10? Absolutely. Why do you think that is? If I'm being truthful, I do it.

So when you go through that experiment you just did with the medical students, if everybody's being brutally honest, aren't they kind of looking at the people who score 0, 1, 2 more favorably than those that score 8, 9, and 10? Absolutely. Why do you think that is? If I'm being truthful, I do it.

I just think it's like a compatibility thing. Like I know when I do that type of an exercise compared to others, I tend to just feel less pain. I also know my wife does as well. And so I almost wonder if that's a compatibility. We both just have a high threshold for that when we're exercising, when we're doing anything, even recreationally, that doesn't matter.

I just think it's like a compatibility thing. Like I know when I do that type of an exercise compared to others, I tend to just feel less pain. I also know my wife does as well. And so I almost wonder if that's a compatibility. We both just have a high threshold for that when we're exercising, when we're doing anything, even recreationally, that doesn't matter.

So what is the consequence of this? So we're acknowledging that it is an attractive trait to have a high tolerance of pain. Society rewards it. And yet by definition, a significant subset of the population, call it a third, call it a quarter if it's a normally distributed function, are going to be a standard deviation on the other side.

So what is the consequence of this? So we're acknowledging that it is an attractive trait to have a high tolerance of pain. Society rewards it. And yet by definition, a significant subset of the population, call it a third, call it a quarter if it's a normally distributed function, are going to be a standard deviation on the other side.

They're going to be on the side relative to people who have a high tolerance for pain. These are people who are going to really perceive pain And if we just did this through the lens of the responsibility of the medical community, there's a pretty significant consequence to that. Indeed.

They're going to be on the side relative to people who have a high tolerance for pain. These are people who are going to really perceive pain And if we just did this through the lens of the responsibility of the medical community, there's a pretty significant consequence to that. Indeed.

So just because you have a high threshold for cold, you could completely flip it on hot or pressure or pinprick or whatever the other modality is.

So just because you have a high threshold for cold, you could completely flip it on hot or pressure or pinprick or whatever the other modality is.

I was going to say, is there any way to put together a set of experimental lab versions of this to basically generate predictive models of how people will respond to real world pain? I think where you're going with chronic pain is even more relevant.

I was going to say, is there any way to put together a set of experimental lab versions of this to basically generate predictive models of how people will respond to real world pain? I think where you're going with chronic pain is even more relevant.

So for example, why do some people have a disc herniation that leads to manageable pain, whereas for others, the exact same injury by every metric available to us produces a totally different set of consequences? And what do we do about that?

So for example, why do some people have a disc herniation that leads to manageable pain, whereas for others, the exact same injury by every metric available to us produces a totally different set of consequences? And what do we do about that?

What about other things? You talked about sleep deprivation. Any other physical things, exercising, not exercising, insulin resistance, non-insulin resistance? What are the other things that might factor into this?

What about other things? You talked about sleep deprivation. Any other physical things, exercising, not exercising, insulin resistance, non-insulin resistance? What are the other things that might factor into this?

How much sleep deprivation does one need for there to be an increase in pain perception?

How much sleep deprivation does one need for there to be an increase in pain perception?