It is normal... Right?

A little explanation as to why a lot of health issues that are considered normal and therefore ok to experience are far from an acceptable reality

But it is normal, everyone gets it, so it is fine, I feel kind of fine… right?

This is what I hear over and over again. But everyone gets headaches, periods are meant to be painful, all of my friends have some sleep related problem, they either take ages to go to sleep or wake up in the middle of the night, who doesn’t want to sleep in every morning but has to get up because of work/ life?

Except it is not, all those things that we think are normal are actually our body letting us know that something is off. It is our body whispering in our ears that we need to change something. The body will tell you that your liver is sluggish with harsher hangovers, skin problems and  smellier sweat (to name a few) , way before it will actually show up in your blood test result. And let me tell you it is far better to listen to the body whispers now, than to deal with the body screams later on in life.

Once we start to ponder if what has been sold to us as ‘normal’ is actually something that we need to endure, the next question is: so how do I actually feel?

Which seems like an easy enough question, but one that takes time and work to be able to answer correctly.

Firstly, it is rare that people dedicate a bit of uninterrupted time to check how the body is doing, let alone noticing changes throughout the day. Secondly, a lot of us live stressful lives. If your body is pumped with cortisol in order to function, it is in a fight or flight mode. Which means your body is not wasting time letting you focus on how your digestion is going (little spoiler, not well at all if you are stressed), or if your breathing is only in the upper chest instead of making full use of your diaphragm. Your body is primed and ready for that sabre tooth tiger to jump out on you, for the building you are in currently to catch fire…. Oh my how ready you are for that. When your body is in this state of survival, it is hard to listen to the body whispers. 

Our bodies go into this sympathetic (stressy) state because of external factors (lifestyle, toxins etc) or internal factors. Unbeknown to us our body may have been fighting an ongoing war with candida overgrowth or gut dysbiosis (too many of the bad guys and not enough of the good bacteria), mould toxin exposures, parasites, sluggish digestion, leaky gut… the list can go on for a while.

If you stick with me I will give you a few pointers on how you can calm the body and master the self check and listen to your body needs much better.