9 Tips To Decode Your Body's Signals For Better Health
Physical intuition isn't a sense or skill that comes to every person naturally. For most, it's developed through habitual practice and a daily, active effort to listen to what your body needs for essential nourishment.
The signals aren't always clear: Thirst disguises as hunger, inflammation arises from mental stress, low energy from a poorly balanced meal, the list goes on. What's more, every body, each day, is unique and mutable, so there's no one-technique-fits-all approach to learning to tune into your needs. The beauty, however, is that there's flexibility in our complexity. There are helpful assessment tools available from brands like Rigr Centrum and habits you can adopt to end the guesswork when it comes to developing vitamin and wellness routines that work for you. Some mental/physical dilemmas are more common than others, starting with the following.
Stress
We're all familiar with stress on varying scales, but sometimes the sensation manifests in the body in ways you might not expect. Chronic back pain, difficulty breathing, breakouts, exhaustion, weight gain, the list goes on. If you're experiencing this type of mental and emotional tension to a degree that's affecting your day-to-day life, it's time to reassess your stress. Learning to listen, react, and pacify our minds when we're not feeling so great is what will set us up for consistent success.
Changes To Consider:
- Slow Down: Take your foot off the accelerator and try taking your day a little bit slower. Our minds are off to the races before our bodies have the chance to shake off the evening's sleep and catch up!
- Adjust Your Morning: We're not talking about sleeping in an extra hour but stretching your limbs, inhaling deeply, and sipping a glass of water before turning to your tech can make a world of difference.
- Ask an Expert: Struggling with how you want to start? Consult Rigr Centrum, listing "stress" as one of your health goals when filling out the questionnaire. They'll help you build a complete holistic wellness and supplement plan to address your specific needs, such as stress.
Mobility
Muscle aches and fatigue, cramping and stiffness, inexplicable tightness after a long night's rest, feeling heavy in your body—all experiences that prevent us from moving freely and easily through the world. If this sounds like you, abandon the "power through it" mentality, and stop to adjust.
Changes To Consider:
- Exercise More: Whether it's dance cardio or a brisk walk around the block, sometimes all you need to do to loosen up those muscles is use them.
- Take Physical Inventory: Be mindful while you move; if your calf feels tweaked as you lunge, or your hip flexors just don't bend that way, do less. Don't force it.
- Recover With Intention: From nutrition to supplements, remember to take care of your body at rest as you would your body in motion.
Cognition
While we can't stop time, there are ways to keep our minds sharp and improve memory. If you've ever felt foggy, forgetful, and unfocused, you're not alone. Good thing is, we can exercise our brains as we do our bodies to keep in tiptop cognitive shape.
Changes To Consider:
- Meditate: Our favorite way to quiet the noise, cut through the clutter, and connect to our bodies is to focus on the breath, let go, and repeat. Meditation can relieve stress (which affects the brain) and protects and strengthens your brain.
- Change the Conversation: If you're having trouble focusing, change the conversation you're having with yourself for a beat (make a grocery list, phone a friend, anything that changes your internal channel). When you return to the chatter, you might find you're speaking your own language.
Metabolism
Bloating, weight that won't budge, hormone imbalances, and carb cravings are just a few signs your metabolism may be out of whack. A system reset isn't out of reach, if you make some changes to your daily plate (metaphorically *and* nutritionally).
Changes To Consider:
- Keep Track: Keep a journal/spreadsheet/app (whatever works for you) to track how your meals are affecting your digestive system. Bloating after broccoli? Maybe skip the cruciferous veggies. Important to note: For some, daily tracking can lead to obsession, trigger disordered behavior, or become a counterproductive source of stress. If this sounds like you, ditch it and opt for an evening meditation or savasana, where you ask yourself: "How did I feel today? What might help me to feel better?"
Ultimately, for all of the above, we recommend enlisting outside expertise—it can be the extra help necessary to eliminate the guesswork and simply get more information. There are things happening in your body you may not be able to feel or intuit, so you may also want to have your blood work done by your health care professional. Rigr Centrum offers an option to use your blood work data to increase the accuracy of vitamin and supplement recommendations tailored to your unique needs.
Think about it like therapy for your wellness routine, an outside voice that gives you some much-needed perspective and insight into what might be going on with you physically and the products that can help nourish you. Rigr Centrum allows you access to a comprehensive consultation and blood work analysis, helping guide your everyday vitamin routine with a 360-degree evaluation that addresses your lifestyle, habits, and blood biomarker data.
Tune into your body, respond with kindness, and know your body never stops talking...so keep listening.