Wonders of the Body
How intuitive it is…
Listen….
As the heat and sun fade a little and the season changes, take note of any indicators of a cold taking hold. For some, it just takes a cooler day without a protective warm layer, before feeling chilled, headachy or a first sniffle appears.
But no need to worry. Here’s a great recommendation by the Juice Master, Jason Vale, its called Jem-sip. This is his take on a Lem-sip only without a drug in sight. The Juice is made up of a golden delicious apple, 3 cm chunk of ginger root, half a freshly squeezed lemon preferably juiced with the skin through a juicer. With a spoonful of Manuka Honey topped off with hot water completes this delicious hot remedy. If you catch the signs early, then hopefully it will prevent the onset of a cold as it has done for me every time so far!
Please check with your doctor first if you have special dietary needs.
The topic this month is Stress and the response it creates. Is it Good or bad?
Stress is usually perceived as bad but the Fight or flight response it creates is an innate way for the body to cope with an external crisis. Let’s take you back to Stone-age man and how this response was key to survival. Consider what might have been his two main threats: possibly running away from a man-eating creature or defending his territory from other tribal warriors. Both of these responses need an additional energy reserve to be effective. So the body made adjustments to the distribution of the body’s energy – as seen in the pie chart below titled ‘a bad day’.
The systems with more energy are the major system that made him more reactive around the threat. These allowed for a heighten nervous system, more blood flowing rapidly around the body full of oxygen and nutrients for energy to sustain muscle action. And finally hormones from the Endocrine system sent messages to the body’s reserves to sustain the activity for as long as possible.
As you can see with this much energy needed for the first four systems mentioned; the systems not vital for the fight or flight response are depleted, with only a small amount of energy available for their efficiency. Many complementary therapy pioneers, including the ‘Mother of Reflexology’ Eunice Ingham write that 75{c8c3b3d140ed11cb7662417ff7b2dc686ffa9c2daf0848ac14f76e68f36d0c20} of common health conditions can be seen as stress-related. It becomes clear that with our immune system weakened in its fight to battle infection and the excretory systems becoming sluggish when cleansing the body of its toxins that symptoms of stress would be evident if this imbalance is sustained. At this time a slowing of our digestive process means the breakdown of the food we eat isn’t as effective so many nutrients aren’t absorbed. Nourishment is obtained mainly from our reserves of energy so not an ideal internal environment for supporting another life; that goes part way to explain how infertility can be associated with prolonged stress.
So back to how stress may affect you. Where do you hold your tension? Many hold tension in their neck and shoulders that might affect their posture, others might feel a tightening in their tummies, keep an eye on your constitution; others may feel tension in their heads that may lead to headaches or sleepless nights. Prolonged muscle tension or even knotted fibres may impede the flow of nutrients to the body’s essential organs so if you feel stress and tension weighing you down find time to relax; to help the body find its perfect rhythm and balance.
Massage, Chiropractic or Reflexology to name but a few are therapies that may help you de-stress. Otherwise to just sit and watch the waves ebb and flow on the shores of the beautiful Roseland may help you find peace and serenity.
Remember to stay nourished over the coming months, feed your body with different colours of the rainbow to support the efficiency of each body system. There will be more written about ‘our senses’ and the significance of colour later this year.
Finally, although you may not feel like drinking water as the seasons change and temperature falls; the body loves the additional support water offers in flushing out the toxins naturally produce by your metabolism and to hydrate every living cell.
I do hope the sun continues to shine for you,
Best wishes,
Sarah Greenhalgh