One thing that many people are sadly unaware of is the fact that our bodies communicate with us, in hopes that we will listen. Listening when your body communicates is one way in which you can manage your health, both mentally and physically. The body wants to take care of you, by taking care of itself, but it can’t do this without your help. Pay attention, and take care of yourself through listening to what your body is saying.
Connection to mental health
There are many ways in which this communication takes form. Firstly, listening to your body can help you to stay mentally healthy. Your body will let you know when it is exhausted and desperately in need of rest. You could have been working all day long, and you feel incredibly worn out. This exhaustion could be accompanied by a headache or any other physical manifestation. What is your body telling you? That you are tired. And what do you need to do about that? Rest. This is particularly important for your mental health because continuing to push your body to do things that it clearly doesn’t want to do at that point may result in you engaging with negative feelings such as stress, sadness and worry. As you’re trying to complete what you are working on, this will obviously not work in your favour. When you’re forcing yourself to work, against the wishes of the body, you will not achieve the best results. You are not in the place to produce your best work, and therefore, resting and picking it up again when you feel better is not simply the better option, but should be the only option. That way, you are not putting yourself under unnecessary strain that will only give substandard results. You need to take good care of you, and part of that involves listening to how much your body and mind can take, and adjusting accordingly.
Connection to physical health
So many things work together to make sure that you’re up in the morning. The body works tirelessly to ensure that everything is in order. It’s vital to be aware of this, and assist whenever you have to. If you’re a student and you’ve been studying since morning, allow your body the time to rest so that you may have all the energy that you need for the following day. Failure to do this will lead to a never ending cycle of tiredness, that, as earlier mentioned, has physical manifestations like headaches. Are you going to give your work all the attention that it needs when you have a headache? No. So listen and rest. The thing about your body is that it’s YOURS and it’s sole purpose is to take care of you. Your body is your home and only wants what’s best for you. Listen.
An equally important area that demands attention when our bodies are communicating concerns physical health. In order to stay healthy, you have to be willing to take instructions from your body. A simple illustration of this is feeling thirsty. Thirst is the brain’s way of trying to adjust unbalanced fluid levels in the body. When the brain detects that your blood is too salty, it generates this thirst response in hopes that you will seek out water. (Seeker). If your body is running low on water, the brain instructs you to drink water and this is what causes thirst. The part of the brain that is important in thirst regulation is known as the lamina terminalis. (Medical News Today). Therefore, next time the lamina terminalis tells you to go and drink water, stop what you’re doing and GO 👏🏾 AND 👏🏾 DRINK 👏🏾 WATER 👏🏾. Our bodies know what needs to be done, and HAVE to be obeyed. Ignoring them cannot be an option.
I hope that from this moment on, you will give your body the attention it deserves and lend it an ear every time it is communicating with you. Listening to it is a guarantee to a healthier lifestyle, and therefore a healthier you. ✨