What Is Your Body Really Telling You?

Listening to your body is the first step to meeting your goals while avoiding injury, but what does "listening to your body" really mean? The question was explored in a recent article about knowing the difference between pushing past pain to victory vs. pushing past pain to injury. While many people and media sources will tell you that you have to "challenge yourself" to see results there are a few warning signs your body will give you to let you know when a challenge has become a problem, a few are listed below:

Over-training: Over-training can occur when you do not take enough recovery days between vigorous training. To pick up on signs of over-training, use a heart rate monitor while you are exercising. A high resting heart rate or trouble raising your heart rate during aggressive exercise can be your body's way of telling you, you have over-trained. The best solution is to take a rest day and eat nutritious foods to replenish your body from all that hard work!

Injury: Be aware of on-going pain, no matter how small. Taking an active approach, instead of trying to cover up the pain with pain-relievers and muscle braces, will give you better results in the long run and help you avoid injury. When taking a break from pain-causing activities, it is important to continue to stretch and mobilize your aching muscles before moving on to strengthening or continued activity. This is the perfect time to work with a physical therapist or try SimpleTherapy at home!

Lack of sleep: Pay attention to your sleep habits and notice how a lack of sleep can be impacting your daily life. If you are experiencing energy crashes, unusual hunger, bad moods, trouble concentrating, and even a hard time moving, these could all be symptoms of lack of sleep. Caffeine, sugar, and energy drinks unfortunately will not restore your energy to 100%, the best way to combat exhaustion is to set a sleep routine that gives your body the rest it needs.

http://greatist.com/grow/how-to-listen-to-your-body?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed_http--greatistcom-

SimpleTherapy has multiple programs to help stretch out large and small pains in different areas of the body, see all of our programs here.