Key Points:
- To sustain life we must have water, nutrition, oxygen, movement and sleep.
- It’s incredibly counter-productive to deny our body its basic resources.
- How we address these necessities greatly influences the quality of our health.
- The simplicity of these basic needs may cause us to minimize their importance.
- If you’re not giving enough of these essentials to your body, who will?
- As a messenger, our body communicates through symptoms when adjustments are needed.
- The sooner a body’s message is responded to, usually the better the outcome.
- Many of us have been taught to ignore symptoms or to mask them.
- In the spirit of good detective work, approach symptoms with curiosity and respect.
- It’s more productive to attend to our bodies’ needs versus trying to correct established imbalances.
- Becoming healthier involves combining your intellect, intuition, and experimentation.
- What’s right for my body may not be right for yours.
- Pick an essential need you can better address today than you did yesterday and build on it.
- Your naturally efficient body will put your efforts to good use.
- Let your simple actions inspire you into ever-improving wellness.
- You are worth the effort!
The human body is a messenger. One of its functions is to remind us to attend to its physical needs. Through an array of cues our body tells us when it’s thirsty, hungry, cold, tired, has to urinate, etc. These are important clues that tell us what actions to take throughout the day like drink water, take a deep breath, stretch, go to the bathroom, slow down and rest, and dress warmer.
In order to function optimally, our body needs us to meet basic physical requirements. To sustain life we must have water, nutrition, oxygen, movement and sleep. How we address these necessities greatly influences the quality of our health. Your body counts on you to cooperate in accomplishing these tasks. You are needed to “co-operate” your body.
When something is awry, our body communicates through symptoms—signals that tell us adjustments are required. Unfortunately, many of us have been taught to ignore symptoms or to try to eliminate them as quickly as possible. It’s understandable to want to ease discomfort. However, to eliminate symptoms without trying to get to the bottom of what is causing them is like destroying clues at the scene of an accident. When clues disappear without being discerned, it’s more difficult to accurately reconstruct the “accident”/ailment. The sooner a body’s message is responded to, usually the better the outcome will be. Symptoms become more pronounced the longer they are ignored, and negative repercussions escalate.
Despite the awe-inspiring orchestration of constant tasks to keep us alive and well, our bodies ask relatively little of us. The simplicity of these basic needs may cause us to minimize their importance, but they are NOT optional. For instance, drinking enough water is more than just a good idea. Many people acknowledge they “should” drink more water yet they often still don’t do it. Dehydration alone can cause countless side effects including fatigue, anxiety, dizziness, confusion, irritability and muscle cramps. These symptoms may send someone to their medicine cabinet or to a doctor. Medications taken for symptoms being caused by dehydration often dehydrate us further, exacerbating the true problem. It is incredibly counter-productive to deny our body its basic resources.
With a bit of short-term focus, you can improve your wellness habits to an almost unconscious level. For instance, adding more water here and there throughout the day can enhance your well-being. Because our bodies are naturally efficient, even small improvements on how we meet our basic physical requirements can create significant cumulative benefits. Setting the intention and consistently inserting the behavior of drinking more water can become a regular habit in a surprisingly short amount of time.
You are the best authority on your body. You have a perspective that is uniquely yours—the “inside scoop.” Becoming healthier involves combining your intellect, intuition, and experimentation to find what works for you. What’s right for my body may not be right for yours. I can share what has and hasn’t worked for me and perhaps save you some research and unnecessary pitfalls. It is you, however, who must determine what is best for you.
In the spirit of good detective work, approach your symptoms with curiosity and respect. Follow clues back to where a condition first appeared. For example, get to the bottom of those headaches or why your shoulders are tight after you sit at the computer or why you wake up with a stiff neck. If you didn’t go to bed with a stiff neck then perhaps it’s from your pillow or the position you are sleeping. Consider modifying how you use a pillow and train yourself to sleep in positions that are better for your neck. Solutions are often obvious when we tune in to what our body is telling us.
There are no drugs, herbs, or supplements that will overcome consistently poor diet choices and unhealthy lifestyle habits. It is far more productive to attend to our bodies’ needs versus trying to correct established imbalances.
In which of these areas could you make improvements? Pick one and simply do a little better job today than you did yesterday, and build on it. Your body will efficiently put your efforts to good use. You can begin to feel better and have more energy. Positive results are encouraging. Let your simple actions inspire you into ever-improving wellness. You’ll save time, money, and energy listening to your body and identifying things that require attention before they become health problems. You are worth the effort!
