Have you ever ignored the communication from your well-meaning body? Maybe you were tired, but still went out for a night on the town with friends, or had that obligatory dinner with a business associate? Or how about that stomach ache you get after drinking a cup of coffee … but you drink a cup or two again the next day because your caffeine habit is just that — a delicious habit!

We all have ignored the messages our body sends to us. And in case you haven’t noticed, the longer you neglect the messages … the stronger they become. The occasional, general tiredness escalates into that chronic deep bone weariness, or the stomach ache becomes stronger and spreads down into your intestinal tract. The longer you ignore these messages, the less you time you’ll have until the ultimate wakeup call comes knocking at your door.

Now if you are 25, you may not relate ….. yet. Just wait, you will eventually come to understand. And if you are over 45, you probably are saying: “I just can’t seem to get away with the same things anymore.” Your body is a messenger. And your mind is a powerful force. But when you play the “mind over matter game,” your body will always win. It does not have an agenda, and is not trying to manipulate you. It is like a computer … garbage in … garbage out. Fortunately the opposite is also true, good stuff in … good stuff out.

In all the years I have supported, treated and coached people in healing their bodies and their lives, one thing I have discovered over and over again is that your body does not lie. You may not like what it is saying … and you may not understand what it is telling you …. but it is telling you something, for good reason. Your body was designed to survive, and will do whatever it takes to help you survive.

OK, so what’s the point? Recently I have been coaching a friend who is suffering from bone aching exhaustion, symptoms of depression, and a loss of passion for life. I can relate to her because I remember when I was experiencing the same deep bone weary tiredness.

How about you? Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired?

Five years ago, my answer to that question was a resounding “yes!” I was perpetually tired and lab tests showed that my adrenals had been under way too much stress for way too long. The laboratory results revealed that I was suffering from Adrenal Failure!

I had been ignoring my body’s message to get more rest for years. And it finally caught up with me. I was forced to change my lifestyle. I had to reduce the stress, increase my hours of sleep, decrease my exercise and increase my carbohydrate intake. Horror of horrors! I thought I was helping myself with these time honored traditions. Exercise more and reduce carbohydrate intake. While this may work for most people … it was making me feel worse. My intensive exercise regimen was causing my adrenals to work harder and become depleted more quickly! My lower carbohydrate intake was not providing the carbs I needed for energy and my adrenals were unable to restore properly.

In hindsight I now recognize that I pushed myself to the state of exhaustion by ignoring the constant, pleading messages from my body. I refused to accept the fact that I was tired and needed more sleep – after all, I had a lot of work to get done! My body started to communicate louder and louder, and suddenly my caffeine fix wasn’t working anymore and I became “bone tired.”

I don’t want this to happen to you!! Believe me when I say the recovery process takes a very long time. So I ask you to do this for yourself: LISTEN TO YOUR BODY! It is your ally; it is on your side and needs to be heard. Your body is communicating to you in the only way it knows how. Through your physical symptoms and feelings.

Listen compassionately and you will have a more compatible relationship with your body. It’s time to stop the battle between what your mind thinks vs. what your body needs.

Your body will continue to patiently communicate for your survival and your ultimate well-being! Shhh, be quiet for a moment. Do you hear someone knocking?

Dr. Lorri

Tags: adrenal failure, exhaustion

This entry was posted on Friday, October 9th, 2009 at 2:12 pm and is filed under Choices, Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.