If you’re past the point of trying to avoid sickness and you’ve come down with something, here are our top 3 tips to overcome it quicker!
Step 1
Have the mindset that you will be healthy soon. Remember that your body is powerful, and it is built to heal itself – if you allow it. Your cells listen to what you say. When you have negative thoughts like, “I’m so sick”, your RAS (a part of your brain) will attach to that and seek all ways to make that true. Every ache and pain will stand out more to you. And when you get into that cycle, your body will follow since your cortisol is likely higher from that stress thinking. On the flip side, when you have the thought, “I am healing, thank you body, I will feel better.” Your brain is looking for all the things that do feel good and healing. You’ll also look for more down regulating activities to allow your body to heal. We know this may sound woo-woo, but trust us, the mind is oh so powerful for our overall health.
Step 2
Find ways for your body to down regulate. This means ways to send your body safe signals. For some this may be doing a lower intensity workout or walk instead. This may look like sleeping in a bit longer, not skipping a meal, taking a break and deep breathing, eating a nourishing yummy meal, taking a warm bath before bed or stretching, and getting to bed early. Sometimes we literally repeat the mantra, “I am safe”. A little action goes a long way here.
Step 3
Support your gut and detox pathways. When you support your gut you support not only your brain, but also your immune system. Prioritize mostly nourishing foods that you know make your gut feel good, drink plenty of water WITH electrolytes to help you digest and rest better, and give your detox pathways some extra love so your gut and body can fight off any illness that may enter or be trapped. Some ways to do this are to drink more water, sweat (sauna or warm bath if you’re feeling really sick), castor oil packs on your abdomen, and supplementation. Our top recommendations for supplements when it comes to being sick are found here.
If you find yourself being sick more than a few times a year, then read here on why your immune system may be struggling. And if so, we recommend you reach out to us, or a functional medicine practitioner to get to the root cause.
