6 Sneaky Health Snatchers to Sidestep for Better Wellness

Wellness shouldn’t be a luxury; instead, it’s a state of mind where we feel good because we’re working towards the lives we’ve always wanted. However, many factors can significantly reduce our wellness and lead us down a path of pain, stress, illness, and even disease. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) shows that many lifestyle choices, such as lack of sleep, exercise, proper diet, or rest, cause imbalances in our body, which can eventually lead to serious illness. Let’s explore the six factors that can negatively affect our wellness and how to correct them.

General Imbalances

The three main types of imbalances are an excess of something (like alcohol or physical activity), a deficiency of something (such as calcium or iron), or stagnation (muscle spasms or constipation) of something in the body. Pain, illness, and disease often result from one or a combination of these imbalances. To maintain wellbeing, a wellness program should focus on identifying and correcting these imbalances by practicing moderation.

The Climate

According to TCM, there are six climates – Wind, Cold, Summer Heat, Damp, Dryness, and Fire (mild heat and high heat). Ordinarily, these climatic changes don’t cause adverse effects on our bodies. However, extreme conditions can create imbalances. For example, exposure to damp and rainy days might cause chills, while hot summer days can lead to sunstroke, dehydration, and fatigue. Cold winter days cause muscle aches and runny noses, which can escalate into more severe conditions like pain, numbness, and infection if left unchecked.

Emotions

While emotions are natural reactions to daily life events, excessive emotions can damage our bodies. TCM links specific emotions to certain organs: excessive joy affects the heart, anger affects the liver (which can impact the spleen and stomach), melancholy affects the spleen, anxiety affects the lungs (and potentially the large intestines), grief impacts the lungs and fear, and fright affects the kidneys. When extreme emotions upset the balance of energy and blood, they contribute to pain, illness, and disease.

Dietary Choices

Poor dietary habits can lead to significant health issues. Consuming high amounts of fatty and sweet foods can cause internal heat, increased fat, phlegm, congestion, colitis, and irritable bowel syndrome. On the other hand, excessive consumption of raw or cold foods can harm the stomach and spleen, leading to abdominal pain and loose stools. Foods high in sugar and refined carbohydrates also contribute to weight gain, blood sugar issues, diabetes, and others.

Physical Activity

While regular levels of physical exertion and exercise promote digestion, circulation, detoxification, and body toning, excessive physical or mental exertion or over-indulgence in sexual activity can cause sickness. Insufficient physical work and exercise can result in low energy and slow blood flow, contributing to loss of appetite, fatigue, phlegm, obesity, shortness of breath, spontaneous sweating, and other secondary illnesses.

Stress

In the United States, stress is the leading cause of illness, with nearly 66% of all symptoms reported in doctors’ offices being stress-induced. Stress’s effects range from nail-biting, anxiety and compulsive behavior to poor appetite, digestive issues, insomnia and bad habits such as dependence on alcohol, drugs, painkillers, and caffeine.

Conclusion

As we can see, various factors can negatively impact our wellness, sometimes leading to chronic pain and suffering that we unintentionally self-induce. However, by understanding and addressing these factors, we can most effectively work towards better health and overall wellness. To get started on this journey, consider implementing these 7 secrets for sustaining wellness.