Listen To Your Body | One Big Health Nut

Most Americans are out of tune with their body or only in-tune with their cravings.  But did you know that your body actually “speaks” to you?

It’s true.  Your body is constantly giving you feedback.  And one of the keys to a healthy lifestyle is learning to pay attention to ALL the signals that your body is sending you, not just the craving signals.

The technical term for the feedback your body gives you is “internal monitoring.”    The body is constantly monitoring various systems to maintain good health.  Many of these monitoring systems do not result in sensation or perception.  In other words, often, your body just takes care of things on its own.  However, there are several internal monitoring systems that will provide feedback that you can sense.  An obvious monitoring feedback is hunger.   But did you know that your body also gives you negative feedback when you've eaten too much or too unhealthily?  Most people are trained to ignore this feedback, but if you pay attention, it’s easy to identify.

Your body also provides feedback when you've been too sedentary.   Your muscles will actually start to feel uncomfortable if you've been sitting in the same position for too long.  In today’s world of office workers, most people are trained to ignore this feedback.  But if you pay attention, you’ll notice it after about an hour or two of sitting in the same place.

But don’t just listen to your body.  Take it seriously.  If you feel hungry, eat a healthy snack until you are content.  If you feel bloated, stop eating.  If your muscles are uncomfortable from sitting too long, get up, stretch and take a walk.   If you feel a headache, often times it’s feedback from your body that indicates either a need or a problem.  Not always, but many times a headache is your body’s way of saying that you are dehydrated, hungry, stressed, in need of rest, etc.

Some people have even taken this fact of internal monitoring to provide therapy and treatment.  While it’s somewhat controversial, biofeedback therapy is a growing discipline and many people are turning to it for both physical and mental related treatments.  Biofeedback therapy basically looks at various physical states (especially the skin and muscles) to determine causes and solutions for health problems.  Whether biofeedback therapy is scientific is up for debate, but the good news is that the growth of this discipline is evidence that today more than ever in modern history, people are starting to listen to their bodies again.