Know your body

“Be Thankful for what your body tells you.”

Every day you get up and out of bed you take a little inventory. Whether you realize it or not, every morning you do a little check-list of your body…..legs (no cramping or wobbling), back (no pinches or strains), shoulders (no pain or soreness), neck (no tweaks or twinges), mouth (I need to brush my teeth)….all of this is a normal, natural process that really takes place between your bed and the bathroom.

What about the more subtle things with your body?

What if you wake up and your vision is a little more blurry than normal? Would you toss that up to an extra ‘sleepy ball’ in the eye or something more serious? Your vision is a key indicator of a stroke.

What if you are a little short of breath on the way to the bathroom? Could that be from the weather or a larger concern? Shortness of breath is a symptom of many serious conditions.

The point is you know your body. What a good day feels like, what a bad day feels like and just about every other day that you have had some experience with. But, if you wake up tomorrow and it feels different, there is a reason for that, and you may not have long to figure it out. The finer point is, don’t ignore it, do something about it.

For example, 40 years old Nigerian citizen had a Sudden Cardiac Arrest. He happened to be in the right place at the right time so I thankfully fell in to the 5-8% who survives an Out-of-Hospital SCA. But he reported, had I listened to my body and what it was telling me, it never would have happened. Many months before my event I was feeling more sluggish in my work-outs, sweating more and taking longer to recover. As a fairly fit 40 year old, you tend to think you are closer to 30 than 50, so it was difficult for me to hear what my body was obviously telling me. Had I listened, there were definitely signs of something going wrong. Work-outs continued to get slower, recovery time got longer, but I still could not fathom that I could be on the brink of disaster. I must just be getting older and this is what it feels like. Until finally one day, I went down in full SCA-Heart in v-fib, statistically very little chance to survive. I got very lucky.

My favourite cliché now is, “Hind sight is 20-20”. The thing that was so hard to see in front of me was crystal clear looking back. The signs were obvious and I was not seeing it because I was ignoring what my body was telling me.

Your body could be telling you the same thing right now. Take inventory and take action. You know what is normal and what is not. You have been living with your body a long time now. All the kinks are worked out and you have got a good routine together. If there is something wrong, it will tell you, you have to listen.

When it comes to safety of your body, you are the CEO. No one else will look out for your body better than you. No one else can diagnose an issue quicker or more effectively than you. No one else will bring the proper actions or precautions to bear. Be Thankful for what your body reports to you, now, take action.