Pain threshold can be increased through safe practices like ice baths by utilizing contextual modulations such as self-talk or distraction.

“increasing your pain threshold through the use of things like ice baths is something that really can be done. It has a lot to do with these contextual or top-down modulations of the experience. You can tell yourself that this is good for me, or I'm doing this by choice or whatever it is. You can distract yourself.”