What your Body is telling you – A Naturopath’s Perspective
Various symptoms in our body can come and go, or they may hang around until we get used to them and they feel normal to us. While some symptoms may be little more than an inconvenience, the reality is that they are giving us an insight into what might be going on inside our body. Here is a naturopath’s perspective on 5 common symptoms, and what they might be telling you about your health:
Feeling tired all the time – many of us live busy lives where we know that we work too much and don’t rest enough. Of course, this will lead to fatigue. However, if you are getting more than 8 hours of sleep each night but are still struggling to wake up in the morning and relying on coffee or sugar to get through your day, this can be a sign that your physiology is struggling in some way. Fatigue is probably the trickiest symptom to figure out but some of the causes can be an imbalance in your hormone levels, a deficiency of minerals or macronutrients in your diet, your digestion isn’t functioning optimally or you have a significant source of inflammation, coming from either inside or outside your body.
Dry skin – If you find you are constantly lathering yourself with moisturiser, perhaps take a look at your diet and your digestive function. To have smooth supple skin we need to be taking in enough water, vitamins, protein and fats. However, even if we are eating everything we require, we also need to have efficient stomach and liver function to be able to break down those proteins and fats so that they can actually be used by our body. In addition, chronically dry skin is a symptom that usually accompanies an underactive thyroid.
Being very burpy and farty after meals – While we often tend to joke about these kinds of things, these can in fact be related to various imbalances in your digestive system. There could be an issue with your stomach acid, your digestive enzymes or the balance of bacteria throughout your digestive tract.
Being “jumpy” or “on edge”– If you are the kind of person who jumps a foot in the air from a loud noise or is startled if someone approaches you from behind and you didn’t realise they were there, this isn’t just a quirky personality trait. This can be a sign that your nervous system has been overworked and overstimulated for so long that it has now become dysfunctional, and is overreacting in a way that is out of proportion to the circumstances. This kind of nervous system response can accompany or be a precursor to both anxiety and burnout.
Joint pain – As we get older we may notice our joints start feeling sore and achy. Often this is disregarded as being a regular part of aging but in actual fact, this type of pain may indicate that we have a sensitivity to one or more foods that we are eating. Anecdotally, there are some people that notice that their joints become distinctly swollen and sore after eating foods from the nightshade family – this includes foods like potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant and capsicum, which are regular staples in many people’s diets. Other people have found that when they remove gluten-containing foods from their diet, their joint pain improves or disappears entirely.
As you can see from these examples, our symptoms can give us an insight into our health, so the first step is to notice what you are experiencing and to get curious. Since there can often be many different reasons why a single symptom has begun to show up for us, it is best to seek the help of a qualified health professional who can take the time to understand you as a whole and thus advise you as to what the most likely causative factors might be for you.
Emma Hickey
Emma Hickey is a dedicated Naturopath from Sydney, Australia, trained with a Bachelor of Health Science (Naturopathy) from Endeavour College of Natural Health. She is well educated about using specific foods and herbs to boost energy, mood, and immunity, while optimizing overall body functioning. Emma specializes in preventing chronic disease and supporting recovery from burnout, post-viral issues, brain fog, and thyroid-related concerns. Her true passion lies in guiding people to embrace a natural way of living through diet, environment, circadian rhythms, relationships, and values. With a caring and compassionate approach, Emma empowers her clients to achieve better health and vitality, fostering a harmonious balance between mind, body, and spirit. Her holistic expertise and dedication make her a sought-after practitioner in the field of naturopathy.