Letting go of Sickness

 

Photo by Usman Yousaf on Unsplash

Letting go of Sickness

 

Do you find yourself sick all the time with one thing after another. Do you kind of get hypochondria and get anxious about every little thing that goes wrong?

Do you work-out and have a healthy diet? Do you support your own mental health with pleasurable and beneficial activities? Do you drink too much or even take party drugs?  Do you take well known herbs and supplements to give yourself a bit of help? How do you manage pain? Do you often get routine check-ups at your GP? Do you get massages, facials? Do you have something calming such as yoga or tai-chi? Do you lift weights?

The truth is that health underpins everything in life. Once your health goes you just feel let down and in denial. Or you can’t break your bad habits even though you need to. And it’s hard to exercise every single day. You may not even have time let alone the inclination. And cooking is just too much. Good food is expensive, and cooking is time consuming, and then you have to clean up.

But if we’re going to take responsibility for a body and mind we have to do at least some of these things. The most important being diet and exercise. There are many known healthy diets including veganism (supplemented), Japanese, Mediterranean, Vegetarian or just a basic healthy diet made up of the five food groups.

Another thing you can do is change your headspace. You don’t have to believe in your illness and positivity can really help with your prognosis. You may be able to manage your health on your own or with the help of traditional and alternative medicine.

You can just pop and olive leaf extract whenever you feel that your immune system needs a boost. Some people think that bicarb is a healthy supplement. Other things that are beneficial are curcumin, fish oil and even anti-anxiety or anti-depressant meds.

But with your headspace you just stay in a positive mind set and you try your best to ward it off. Quite often this too shall pass, without going into a depression about it. And look after yourself, get a mini trampoline, go for a long walk every day, do yoga. There are plenty of things you can do for exercise, there’s no excuse not to find something you enjoy doing.

Stress puts the mind and body into overdrive and can cause inflammation. It’s important to have a work-life balance and you could spend some time in nature.

Gratitude is meant to help with physical and mental health, try to keep a gratitude journal of 5 or 10 incidences you had to be grateful for in your day. Gratitude puts you in a positive frame of mind and after a while can change your perspective for the better.

Try to do things that are wholesome. Like get outdoors in the sun, getting some fresh air and exercise, joining groups that don’t necessarily incorporate drinking alcohol. Have hobbies that are good for your mind - Such as knitting, fishing, blogging or calligraphy. These hobbies are said to be the most relaxing and could physically lower your blood pressure and slow your heartbeat, whilst at the same time soothing your mind. Another thing you can try of course is meditation and deep breathing techniques and progressive relaxation techniques.  

 

You probably already know how to meditate, but to recap. During mediation you sit cross legged on a cushion, maybe in half lotus position, ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_position) or straight up on a ,close your eyes and  basically take deep breaths and follow your breathing. You may want to use a mantra or a Koran such as focusing on others and thinking: May you be happy, May you be healthy, May you be safe, May you live with ease.  You can meditate from anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour or two.

Progressive relaxation is where you start at your feet tensing your muscles in sections – feet, calves, thighs and hamstrings, stomach, back, shoulders, neck face and head, tensing and then letting go. It can also really help with headaches, anger – management and more.

Some ways to relax are taking a bath, doing yoga, doing puzzles, walking, swimming, getting a massage, or reiki, or watching your favourite show. Add some mineral bath salts to the bath for a relaxing soak.

Yoga has several things going for it including greater strength and flexibility, strengthening the immune system, a decrease in stress, better mental health, improving balance and promoting healing.

With puzzles, you should be able to get special puzzle magazines at the supermarket or News-agency. They challenge your brain, while being fun, can help improve memory and creating new neural pathways in your brain.

When it comes to walking, there is nothing better, it’s a gentle aerobic exercise that promotes all levels of cardio-activity including, fitness, de-stress, vitamin D (From the sun)

Swimming has its own benefits as well, the calming effect from the repetitive motion and breathing is good for a host of things like depression, stress, improving fitness etc. And it’s free or low cost too!

Deep tissue massage can relax the holding on of trauma and such from the body, helping the client deal with things and let go. Whilst Reiki is an energy healing system where the practitioner channels energy from the universe and gently tries to heal the body.

Now I am not a proponent of too much television, but an hour or two per day can’t hurt and I mean it can be edifying if you choose what you watch carefully. Films can be inspiring, and comedies that make you laugh are meant to cure a range of illnesses. However you could spend the time reading something decent if you like.

Confidence helps with energy. Try to have a positive attitude towards yourself. Have self-compassion if you need to rest then rest. It will be better than making things worse and burning out.

Try not to talk yourself into illnesses. The key is to put mind over matter and cure the illness and or manage it better. In case of terminal illness, whilst positive thinking might sound pat, and patients are going to have a wider range of emotions they might need to share, certain things like support groups and guided imagery might help the patient have better quality of life whilst undergoing treatment. Guided imagery might not cure cancer, but it can help with pain, distress, nausea and depression. Pain management could also be helpful. Which you should ask your primary care giver.

Prevention is better than cure however and there are a range of things you can do to help insure your health. Such as healthy diet, regular exercise, stressbusters like yoga, stretching and meditation, challenging your mind to build new neural networks; having a thriving social life, spending quality time with family and friends; getting regular check–ups, eliminating toxins, using sunscreen, having a skin regime; taking healthy supplements and practicing gratitude.