With the SPRING FORWARD time change and balmy weather hitting the shores of Mount Pleasant and Charleston, we are in the season of GO! We’re starting to shake off those winter blues and get outside, get our BODIES moving, and we’re loading up the plans, plans plans!
And while all of that energy is exciting, it’s important to realize that doing too much at once can have consequences! This week we are talking about learning to LISTEN TO OUR BODIES.
Athletes sometimes listen to the WRONG voice!
Here at DUFF, we get it! It’s hard to let go of that constant need to push through the pain, whether its during a workout, fighting that tinge of a sore throat or adding on an extra project at work. Breaking Muscle gets this conundrum perfectly: “Good athletes are typically good at listening to their coaches. But they’re not always so good at listening to themselves. Truth is, your body knows what you need better than your brain and all the thoughts spinning around inside your skull.”
So what happens when you DON’T listen to your body?
US News explains, “Our bodies have to speak up like a little kid throwing a temper tantrum when they want attention. They do this in the form of illness, fatigue, stress and more. All of these things are like big fat stop signs begging us to slow down and pay attention to what’s going on inside.” And what happens when you ignore stress and fatigue? INJURY and ILLNESS.
CNN bridges the link between pushing it too hard in the gym and pushing it too hard in life. Their fitness expert Noam Tamir, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and owner of TS Fitness New York City explains: ”The more you work, the more you train, the more stress you’re putting on the body. If you’re not allowing the body to recover, you’re causing yourself more harm than good.” After all, exercise doesn’t just impact your muscles — it impacts your digestion, kidney function, hormone regulation, and more.”
Learning to listen to your body leads to your BEST LIFE!
And as Psychology Today puts it: “If you listen to your body your real life – your best life – might actually have a hope of finding you. When your life is spent rushing from one thing to another there is very little time, space or energy for creativity, inspiration, or truly useful problem solving and planning.”
So what does “Listen to My Body” actually mean?
MindBodyGreen has an article with that EXACT title and they boil it down like this: “Stop thinking …for a moment. You need to get quiet. You need to get sensitive, to you. That feeling in your body is where you’ll find your intuition, and your capability to act…Your body is sending you messages, core, gut feelings, all the time. You don’t need to reason them, logic them, or intellectualize them. You just need to act on them.”
So when you feel tired, sore or worn out, don’t look at it as weakness. Take these signs from your body as RED FLAGS warning you that if you DON’T rest, things will get worse!
Follow Us!