Today's post is one that takes time to thoroughly understand. Read it slowly, thinking about the stress in your life and some of the symptoms that you often complain of, like headaches, fatigue, acne, stomach problems, heart burn, etc. What is your body trying to tell you?
Your bodily systems do not work alone or in isolation. Everything is connected in some way shape or form. Therefore, when we have issues with one part of our body, we can expect repercussions to appear in another part of our body. Sometimes, it isn't a physical aliment or illness that sets this cascade off. It could also start from our brain.
How does this happen? Any illness is made worse by depression and mental stress. White blood cells are our body’s main defenses against sickness, but depression and stress suppress the white blood cells. With few white blood cells circulating around, your body can’t always properly heal.
Your mindset (your emotions and mental state) about a situation effect your body in numerous ways. It may seem simple or unrelated, but stress is stress to the body, no matter the source.
For instance, when your sinuses are acting up and you’re having pain and headaches, first find out what’s going on in your body. Yes, look at the symptoms, but open your eyes to see the bigger picture. Are you allergic to something in the house, like mold, dust, perfumes? Are you eating something that is causing inflammation in your body? Were you on antibiotics a few months ago that depleted your gut bacteria? All of these are events that could lead to further issues if not discovered and resolved.
The problem is that it is a vicious cycle that is hard to stop once you get sucked into it. You have stress in your life which lowers your white blood cells and raises inflammation levels. With fewer white blood cells to defend your body, you get sick. When you get sick, you have a harder time healing from it. Then, because you aren’t healing quickly, you get stressed about it and depressed. You think you’ll never get better. These depressing thoughts send chemical messages to your body that aren’t helpful. They further hinder, not help, the recovery process. Plus, that inflammation doesn’t help either. It keeps your body from healing properly.
What is key to remember here is that the body doesn’t live or work in a vacuum. When something affects the stomach or gut, it also affects every other part of the body. When something affects the brain (like mental stress), it manifests itself in the other bodily systems. Nothing happens in the body alone. There is always a connection elsewhere.
With conventional medicine, they look at the symptoms, not the root cause. Yes, you may have stomach pain or distress, but why did you develop these symptoms in the first place? Personally, I think a lot of illness can be traced back to years and years of unmanaged mental and physical stress. And when it comes to stress, we need to remember the uncommon causes that cause our bodies to become stressed, whether we know it or not. Things like antibiotics, infections, anxiety, gluten, driving, public speaking, crowds, etc all can cause stress in our bodies.
I know it sounds crazy, but think about what I said above. Your body doesn’t work in a vacuum. Everything is related, and your gut heath and stress levels are two of the most important factors in determining your overall health. You can do everything “right,” but if your stress levels aren’t managed and your gut health is out of wack, your body will not be okay. Stress can do monstrous things to the body. It is not good. It affects every system in the body.
Now getting out of this cycle is hard. Learning to manage your stress levels and heal your gut is even harder. But, you didn’t get where you are overnight, so you can’t expect to heal overnight. These things take time and patience. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t possible.
What we need to keep in mind again is that our body doesn't work in a vacuum. What happens in one area affects all the others.
I hope that this post will inspire you to take a deeper look at what your body is telling you. What symptoms are you experiencing? Write them down. What could be causing these symptoms? Write those down as well, and try to think outside of the box. Think about recent stress, doses of antibiotics, infections, busy times in life or at work, etc. When we start to critically think about our bodies and what is bothering us, we take the first step on the road to recovery.
Remember, listen to your body - it is very smart.
Good luck, and I'm here to help in any way that I can!