Listen to Your Body!

Do you listen to your body? I mean really listen to it. When it tells you that you are exhausted, do you try to go to bed early and get a little more sleep? How about when it tells you that it is stressed- do you take a few minutes out to breathe and relax? How about when you are happy or excited- do you take a few extra minutes to savor the elation that you feel?

A lot of us don’t listen to what are bodies are telling us. We keep going and going and going until we crash and our bodies tell us that they have had enough. We stress over everything but rarely take the time to relax and breathe. We are happy or excited for a few minutes but then we let everything crash back down on our shoulders.

You have to be the one to put a stop to this! You need to get at least 6-9 hours of sleep every night- If you get 6 hours but still feel tired the next day, then you aren’t getting enough. Try to go for a little more. Not sleeping causes your stress levels to rise, can keep you from being able to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight and when you don’t get enough sleep your body has a tendency to want to eat more. Sleep is used to reset your body and without getting into deep sleep your body can’t and won’t function correctly. If you are having trouble with sleeping try relaxing before heading to bed.

With stress you need to take a few minutes out to do whatever helps you. For me, it is vegging out watching a favorite show, reading an enjoyable book and the best for me is spending time in prayer and reading my Bible. Reconnecting with God really helps me to put things in perspective and it also reminds me that He has my back and is taking care of whatever problems have come up. For others it may be doing yoga at the end of the day or meditating. For my husband it is playing video games, writing his novel or learning a new language. It varies for everyone, but you have to do something or eventually you are going to crash from all the stress. Bad stress leads to excess body fat, heart problems including heart attack or stroke, depression, anxiety and panic attacks.

When you feel happy, excited, loved or any other feel good feelings- savor them. Take them with you for as long as possible. These feelings release good chemicals into your brain and body that help lower stress! That’s why laughter is the best medicine- you are helping your body in a way that no anti-depressant or any other medicine can. Another way to help reduce stress- hug someone that you love such as your spouse or your child for about 15 seconds. It releases oxytocin into your blood stream and helps you feel relaxed (this is the same hormone that is released during and after having some fun in the bed with your spouse and it is why you and your hunny feel so wonderful and relaxed after, so if you want to really feel relaxed, skip the hug and head to the bedroom).

Taking care of yourself isn’t just exercise and eating right- its making sure that you listen to your body and doing what it needs you to do!