It’s Amazing How Much Your Body Can Tell You
No news is good news
Think about this for a minute, when everything is good, you don’t usually “hear” from your body, right? When we have slept enough, eaten enough, when we are, in general, feeling good, or when everything is working the way it should, we don’t notice all of the amazing things our bodies do every second of every day. It’s like the saying, “no news is good news”. But when your body starts talking, it’s important to pay attention.
Ignoring what your body is saying can be dangerous to your health
There are so many indicators that our bodies give us when something is not the way it should be, but do we listen as we should, or do we just brush off what it’s trying to tell us? If you are having trouble keeping your eyes open during a meeting, that’s a sign. If your stomach is growling, that’s a sign. If you are not able to eat or keep food down, that’s a sign. If you rapidly lose a lot of weight, without trying, that’s a sign. If you have pain every time you move your arm in a certain direction, that’s a sign. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to say everything your body is saying is a problem, but you need to be aware so that if something is bothering you it can be addressed before it becomes something serious.
Be Aware of How You Feel
Paying attention to how you feel is an important way of figuring out what may be wrong. For example, if after eating you don’t feel well, make a quick note of what you had. That way if you have similar foods and you don’t feel well again you can determine what you may be sensitive to. Using an app or notebook to track the foods you eat has several benefits, this is just one. You should also pay attention to things like suddenly feeling your heart racing. If you are not exercising when that happens, what is going on around you? Are you nervous, angry, or excited? If this happens often you can talk with someone about coping methods to make sure you aren’t making your symptoms worse. Being aware and jotting down notes when things feel “off” can help you learn about things you may need to learn to control.
No pain no gain
“No pain no gain” is a saying that I do not agree with at all. You should not be exercising through pain unless for some reason a doctor has told you it is okay. If something hurts while you exercise you have a few options. The first that I suggest is to lower the weights you are using, or put down the weights altogether and see if that helps stop the pain while performing that particular exercise. If that does not take away the pain then you should try a different exercise that may target the same area, but in a different way, to see if that gives you relief. I’m not saying to just stop exercising altogether because there is one pain; I’m saying to either avoid or lower your weight in that one area so it can heal. Do your best to find something else to do that does not cause pain, but if at all possible, don’t stop moving altogether. Pain will cause NO gains if it takes you away from movement.
The worst thing we can do is ignore what our bodies tell us. It may be saying things are great by not telling us anything but when something goes awry we need to take a moment to analyze what is going on and follow up with professional help if it is not getting better on its own.
We need to listen to our bodies to be healthy BEFORE we NEED to be healthy!