Sooo, here I am, an up and coming health and wellness fanatic, doing my best to take good care of myself, and spreading the "gospel of wellness" to the masses in my own little way. Always eating well, exercising, resting and thinking well, as healthy as I can be right? Yes.........and no.
You see, 2 days ago at work on a Monday morning, I noticed I felt really tired, and a little cold at my office. I checked the thermostat to see if something was set wrong. It was normal. Hmmmm could I be getting sick? Surely not. I haven't run a fever in 2 years, haven't had a cold in 2 years, have felt terrific for a LONG time. Yet by the time lunch rolled around, I could tell I was not right. My eyes were wanting to do nothing but close, and my body felt a bit achy. Oh brother, I don't have time for this, I have a retreat I am going to later this week, I have patients to see prior to that. This was my thought process as panic almost set in. I mean, God forbid I get sick right? Someone like me should always be healthy right? Again, yes.......and no.
See, being healthy doesn't mean you're never sick. I doubt anyone's claims when they say they NEVER get sick. I mean, really? You never get a cold, never have a little stomach upset, no sinus headaches, ever??? Somehow I doubt that. Personally, since in my practice I physically touch 25-45 people a day, and these patients of mine come into the office in varying degrees of health, I get exposed to a lot of the "bugs" they carry in with them. In years past I would get sick enough every year to miss work about twice for a day or two, and you can see how that might happen in my line of work.
Now back to our story....So I realized my body was attempting to tell me something. I was cold and sleepy, and parts of my body were aching a little, which was my body's way of trying to fight off whatever was attacking it. So I went into prevent defense. I went home at lunch, took another dose of my Superfood Solution Shake (I usually take one/day), took two whole food supplements and, because I was listening to my body, I took a nap. I slept for about 1.5 hours total which in itself is a telltale sign that something was wrong since I never nap that long. That evening I took yet another dose of my shake and more whole food supplements. The next morning I was off work, so I took more supplements/shakes, ate good protein and some fruit, drank water, and slept some more. By the afternoon I was already feeling better, and now today I awoke feeling almost 100% (probably 95% if I had to put a number on it).
So why did I fall "under the weather"? Hindsight is 20/20 of course and I can say that over the last 2 weeks, I've let stress get the best of me, I didn't rest all that well because of it, and my eating habits toward the end of last week weren't all that great either. So that is lesson #1 to take from this. We need to pay closer attention to what we are allowing our body to go through as it has a cumulative effect on our health. I was struggling in 3 out of the 4 "Pillars of Wellness" (Eat well, move well, think well and rest well) so that lowered my immunity. The 2nd takeaway from this is how to handle it once you DO start heading down the path to sickness. I ate whole foods, I got extra rest, I practiced total relaxation, I took extra supplements, I didn't put anything toxic in my body (sugars, non-real food etc).
I think lesson #3 is that everyone gets sick to one degree or another at some point. The really healthy among us bounce back much faster, like the blow-up punching bags that are weighted on the bottom, you may get knocked down, but you always bounce back up, and you'll bounce back up faster the healthier you are. In this case, I didn't get knocked down, but I wobbled a bit and bounced back.
Lastly I think a lesson here is that you don't become sick overnight. It's usually a process where inch by inch your immune response slips. You are exposed to "bugs" daily, and your immune system when it's functioning right always wins and keeps them at bay. But when we start skimping on our eating, thinking, resting and exercising, we become less healthy, whether or not we actually have symptoms or not. Eventually if that state continues, we do acquire symptoms and classify ourselves then as "sick".
I find it very interesting that the last two times (this being one of them) I was "under the weather", I was able to bounce right back within a day or so via eating, moving, thinking and resting in a wellness manner. You can do the same thing by learning how to live the wellness lifestyle I promote via our blogs and other social media. I hope this helps!
Until next time...Be Well!
Dr. Bruce
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