New research from functional nutrition brand The Turmeric Co. suggests the UK is quietly living with far more physical pain than it lets on — and routinely hiding it from the people around it.

The brand’s State of the Nation report, based on a nationally representative survey of 2,000 UK adults, found that 65% have experienced physical pain in the past year. Among that group, nearly two-thirds (65%) say it strikes daily or several times a week, and 80% describe their worst pain as moderate, severe or debilitating.

The report lands ahead of Pain Awareness Month, and its central finding is less about the prevalence of pain than the silence around it.

The cost of keeping quiet

Pain is shaping daily life in ways that go well beyond the physical. 61% of sufferers say it disrupts their sleep at least weekly, 60% say it limits their ability to exercise, and 47% say it affects their mood. Almost half (46%) have been unable to get out of bed because of it, and 63% often or sometimes feel isolated or misunderstood as a result.

It follows people to work, too. Among working adults who reported pain, 79% say it affects their work life — from lost focus to turning down overtime — and 57% took at least one sick day because of it in the past year. The report calculates an average loss of 3.8 working days per person, at an estimated £150 in lost productivity per day, which The Turmeric Co. puts at roughly £12.4 billion in annual costs to UK businesses.

Yet the instinct to minimise runs deep. 92% of people living with pain admit they’ve told someone they were “fine” when they weren’t — rising to 96% among 18–24-year-olds. 60% agree that pain is “just something you have to put up with as you get older,” and half of that group take no action as a result.

Where it hurts most

The burden isn’t shared evenly. Women in pain are more likely to experience it daily (35% vs. 30% of men) and more likely to describe it as severe or debilitating (26% vs. 21%). It also reaches further into their lives — affecting mood (51% vs. 42%), social life (32% vs. 27%) and family responsibilities (22% vs. 17%) at higher rates than for men. Despite widespread awareness of the risks of frequent use, 28% of women in pain take an over-the-counter painkiller several times a week.

Geography plays a role too. Wales and Scotland report the highest rates of daily pain, Northern Ireland the most sleep disruption, and Yorkshire & Humberside the strongest emotional toll. Londoners report the least daily disruption of any region (19%) but are among the most likely to downplay it, with 94% saying they’ve claimed to be “fine” when they weren’t.

A case for acting sooner

The Turmeric Co. frames the findings as a case against treating pain as an inevitable part of ageing, pointing to The British Pain Society’s 2024 survey, which found that 30% of people with persistent pain waited more than five years between onset and referral to a pain clinic.

Dietitian Corrine Toyn from The Turmeric Co. said: “Too many people live with pain in silence, often pushing through instead of seeking help. Pain shouldn’t be accepted as part of getting older. Small, steady steps — staying active, prioritising rest and looking at nutrition — can make a meaningful difference when taken early.”

Health signal

For functional nutrition brands and ingredient suppliers, the report is as much a market signal as a health one. A population that is both widely affected by pain and reluctant to seek help represents an underserved audience for everyday, non-clinical support — the kind of positioning The Turmeric Co. is building around curcumin’s anti-inflammatory properties. With the data timed to Pain Awareness Month, it also points to an opening for the category, framing nutrition-led pain support as one of the “small, steady steps” consumers are being encouraged to take earlier.

You can access the full findings here.