18. March 2026

THE CHEMISTRY OF ATTENTION SERIES: ENDORPHINS – THE RELIEF LOOP

Pain isn’t always obvious.

Most people think of pain as something physical. An injury. A strain. Something you can point to and say, “that hurts.”

But there’s another kind of pain that doesn’t show up like that.

Mental tension.
Emotional pressure.
Low-level discomfort that sits in the background of your day.

It’s not sharp enough to stop you.
But it’s constant enough that you notice it.

You feel it when you’re overwhelmed but still functioning.
When your mind won’t settle, but nothing is technically wrong.
When you’ve got things to do, things to think about, and no clear space between them.

It builds quietly.

And most people don’t try to solve that discomfort.

They try to escape it.

Endorphins are your body’s natural pain relief system.

They exist to reduce discomfort. To take the edge off. To allow you to keep going when something would otherwise slow you down or stop you completely.

They don’t remove the cause of the pain.

They reduce your perception of it.

In the right context, that’s incredibly useful.

If you’re injured but need to keep moving, endorphins allow you to function. If you’re pushing through something physically or mentally demanding, they help you tolerate the strain.

They create relief.

But relief is not the same as resolution.

That’s where things start to shift.

In a modern environment, most of the discomfort people experience isn’t physical danger or immediate threat.

It’s internal.

Pressure.
Stress.
Mental noise.
Unfinished tasks.
Unresolved thoughts.

And instead of addressing those things directly, people reach for relief.

Not consciously.

Automatically.

You finish something stressful and immediately reach for your phone.
You feel overwhelmed and switch to something easier.
You avoid a difficult task by doing something that feels better in the moment.

These aren’t random behaviours.

They’re responses.

Your system is looking for a way to reduce discomfort.

And endorphin-driven relief becomes part of that loop.

This is where the pattern builds.

You experience discomfort.
You seek relief.
You feel better temporarily.
The underlying cause remains.

So the discomfort returns.

And when it does, you repeat the process.

Over time, this becomes automatic.

Not a decision.

A pattern.

You don’t sit there and think, “I need to release endorphins right now.”

You just feel the discomfort…

…and move away from it.

That movement can take different forms.

Scrolling.
Eating.
Switching tasks.
Avoiding something important.
Doing something easy instead of something necessary.

Each one provides a small amount of relief.

Just enough to take the edge off.

And that’s the key.

It doesn’t need to fully solve the problem.

It just needs to make you feel slightly better.

Because slight relief is enough to reinforce behaviour.

This is where the loop tightens.

The more often you respond to discomfort with relief, the less likely you are to address the source of the discomfort itself.

Not because you don’t want to.

Because your system has learned that relief is available faster than resolution.

And faster tends to win.

This is where attention starts to drift.

You sit down to do something meaningful.

Something that requires effort. Focus. Time.

And almost immediately, a small amount of resistance appears.

Not pain.

Just discomfort.

A sense that this is going to take effort.

That it might be frustrating.
That it won’t feel easy straight away.

That’s enough.

Because the moment that discomfort shows up, your system looks for relief.

You check something.
You switch tasks.
You delay starting properly.

And just like that, the discomfort disappears.

Not because the task is done.

Because you’ve moved away from it.

That’s the relief loop in action.

Over time, this changes how you approach everything.

You become less tolerant of discomfort.

Not dramatically.

Gradually.

Things that require sustained effort start to feel heavier than they should.

Not because they’ve changed.

Because your tolerance has.

You start to avoid tasks earlier.

Switch sooner.
Delay more often.
Look for easier options.

And because relief is always available, you don’t need to push through.

This is where people start to believe they lack discipline.

But it’s not a discipline issue.

It’s a conditioning issue.

You’ve trained your system to move away from discomfort quickly.

And once that pattern is in place, it applies everywhere.

Not just work.

Conversations.
Decisions.
Anything that feels slightly uncomfortable.

You start to avoid friction.

But friction is where progress happens.

And without it, things stall.

This is where the modern environment amplifies the problem.

Because relief is always within reach.

You don’t have to sit with discomfort anymore.

You can remove it instantly.

Which means you never build tolerance for it.

And without tolerance, even small amounts of discomfort feel significant.

That’s the shift.

You’re not dealing with more pressure than before.

You’re dealing with it less effectively.

Because the system that would normally allow you to sit with it has been replaced by one that removes it.

This is where the loop becomes self-reinforcing.

More discomfort → more relief-seeking → less tolerance → more sensitivity to discomfort.

And the cycle continues.

You don’t notice it happening.

Because each individual decision feels small.

But collectively, it changes how you operate.

You stop engaging with difficult things.

You avoid effort earlier.
You default to what feels easier.

And over time, your attention becomes shaped by what provides relief rather than what creates progress.

That’s the real shift.

You’re no longer choosing based on importance.

You’re choosing based on discomfort.

And discomfort is always easier to escape than it is to resolve.

Endorphins aren’t the problem.

They’re doing exactly what they’re supposed to do.

Reducing pain.
Creating relief.
Helping you cope.

But when relief becomes the goal rather than a temporary support, it changes behaviour.

Because the system starts prioritising what feels better now over what matters later.

And that’s where control starts to slip.

Not in obvious ways.

In quiet ones.

You don’t notice the opportunities you avoid.
The tasks you delay.
The conversations you sidestep.

You just feel like things aren’t moving.

And the more that happens, the more you look for relief again.

That’s the loop.

And until you recognise it,
you’ll keep trying to solve discomfort by escaping it.

Instead of understanding it.

Sources

• Boecker, H. et al. (2008). The runner’s high: opioidergic mechanisms in the human brain
• Fields, H. (2004). State-dependent opioid control of pain
• Leknes, S. & Tracey, I. (2008). A common neurobiology for pain and pleasure

Research Gaps & Limitations

• Most endorphin research focuses on physical pain rather than behavioural avoidance patterns
• The role of endorphins in everyday decision-making and attention is still being explored
• Interactions between endorphins and dopamine in habit formation require further study