Navigating Your Body Cues by Jessica Reinsmoen
When you get a headache after dealing with a stressful situation do you understand what your gut is trying to tell you? When you get an upset stomach before presenting a class project do you understand what your body is saying?
The relationship with your intuition, your gut – your body is one that can affect your overall health and the more you know what it’s trying to tell you, the more you’ll know how to take care of it. It lets you know when the scenario you’re in is good or bad, how you’re feeling at that moment in time, and just gives insight into you. It’s a relationship that is special and if you’re not in-tune, it can wreak havoc on your health.
Knowing yourself and being in-tune with your body takes a long time and it’s taken me years to finally figure out how I “work.” So don’t be discouraged if you’re not immediately recognizing the cues that your body is telling you. Different scenarios and situations are going to allow your body to tell you those differences and similarities.
To understand the cues your body gives you, I encourage you to try an exercise in a variety of scenarios.
Perhaps a scenario when you’re just resting on the couch scrolling through your phone, another when you’re in class/work, or when you’re in the midst of something stressful.
Close your eyes (if you’re in class/work, don’t do it too long) and think inwards.
How are you feeling? Think from the top down. Start with your mind. Is your mind clear? Are you able to concentrate on what’s going on? How’s your head? Do you have a headache right now? How’s your nose? Are you able to breathe properly? Is your nose runny? Are you having difficulty swallowing? How’s your chest? Does it feel tight? How’s your stomach? Is it upset? Do you have cramps? How are your feet doing? Do they feel relaxed?
Then think in general of the entirety of your body. Is there anything giving me pain right now? Is there anything that feels off?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then ask yourself, why is my body feeling this way? Could you be feeling great and relaxed? Could you be sick? Are you in a situation where you’re feeling anxious, and these are the ways your body is telling you that it’s on alert? Your body knows you better than you know yourself sometimes and paying attention to what it’s telling you can be so important.
As a person who lives with chronic illnesses, it’s especially important for me to be in-tune with my body. I need to take care and learn what is best for myself and the only way to do so is to have that awareness and connection. I live with Idiopathic Hypersomnia. It’s a sleep disorder that disrupts my life in all ways but in one way is excessive sleepiness. My sleep is not restorative, so I don’t get energy from my sleep. It’s almost as if I’m constantly sleep deprived no matter how much sleep I get.
As an example of how I communicate with my body, I’ll take you through how I know when I need sleep. It’s a complicated situation for me as my body sounds the alarm from the moment I wake up.
Over the years, I’ve learned that my body will sound the alarm for sleep but it comes in stages and it gradually gets louder and louder. Personally, with my sleep disorder, I don’t have sleep attacks. My body won’t force me to go to sleep, but I do feel the effects. These are just a few.
The first thing I usually feel come on is the brain fog. It can be intense. I can’t concentrate on things for long amounts of time. I can get irritable with others, or just not have enough patience with things that I usually have patience for. Before I was diagnosed, I’d try to ignore it. It didn’t help though and I couldn’t understand why I felt like my body was betraying me. Little did I know, it was trying to tell me what was going on.
A lot of the time, I’ll get pressure in my head. A pounding of sorts and in later stages of being so tired, it can get to a bad migraine. I essentially lose all motivation to do anything. Even more so when the nausea hits. When that hits, I know that I no longer can do anything and that I absolutely need to go to sleep. I can’t push it off any longer.
Luckily, I now know the stages of these “symptoms” and try to go to sleep before it gets too bad. I liken my life to being a zombie in some ways and no one wants to see me in full-blown zombie mode.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter whether you have a chronic illness or not, being in tune with your body can be one of the most important relationships you have in your life. Take the time to recognize the cues that your body is giving you and you’ll reap the rewards.
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For more information about Idiopathic Hypersomnia, please click here: https://www.hypersomnolenceaustralia.org.au/symptoms.
Additional tools for when you may be in crisis:
U.S. Crisis Text Line: 741-741
Ohio Mobile Response and Stabilization Services: 1-888-418-MRSS (6777)