The first thing to always remember is that pain is not your enemy. Just as your car's dashboard lights up to tell you it needs an oil change, pain can be a helpful early warning that your body has a health issue that needs attention.

Annoying though they may be, both signals are a way to get your attention so that you can deal with a situation before it becomes worse. So feelings of pain can actually be your friend.

The difficulty comes in when you can't identify the root cause of your pain. The sting from a paper cut has an obvious source, but other pains — particularly when they're chronic — can be the result of very subtle heath issues that aren't so easy to pinpoint.

This is particularly true in folks who have fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome

Not getting enough sleep can often contribute to developing ongoing joint and muscle discomfort. That's because your body uses sleep to repair the daily tissue damage that results from muscle overuse.

Though most people in today's hectic world find it tough to do, you really should make it a priority to get 8-9 hours of sleep every night. It's not enough to skip out on good sleep night after night and then "catch up" on the weekends — because catching up on sleep is a myth. It doesn't work.

If you still have occasional difficulty falling or staying asleep, try using an herbal mix designed for sleep support. Look for herbal formulas that contain ingredients such as theanine, Jamaican Dogwood, wild lettuce, valerian, passionflower, and hops.