What your body is trying to tell you

And how to listen

6,000,000,000,000,000,000 (6 billion billion) reactions take place every second within the 30,000,000,000,000 (30 trillion) cells that make you. No wonder science has a tough time figuring out what is happening within the body, let alone why. No wonder medicine struggles to develop cures and address disease; the human body is incredibly complex and intricate.

This is not to say that medicine has no idea about why and what is happening within the body. On the contrary, science has made some headway (no matter how minor) and machine learning will now lead the way. You don’t need doctors or algorithms to know or understand most of what is going on within.

You have to look at what the body is showing you and listen to everything it says. Then, you should follow and allow the body to lead the way.

The most definite signs and signals your body gives out are:

Poop

There is a reason most doctors and alternative medicine practitioners inquire about your poop; it is one of the best indicators of your health. How well you flush out all that you do not need directly shows how well you retain everything else.

So next time around, take a moment to look at your morning creation to understand your state of health.

The Bristol Stool Chart is the gold standard in understanding most things poop. Type 3 and 4 are the Goldilocks zone, while anything else indicates a problem. Besides size and shape, there are other considerations as well.

While you evaluate the size and shape of your poo, consider the colour as well. Shades of brown are what you must aim for; every other colour could be due to excess consumption of a particular food or indicative of a health problem.

Do you go first thing in the morning, or do you need a caffeinated push? The timing of your poop says a lot about your health. If you do not naturally empty all of yourself within the first 15 minutes of waking up, you are in a state of ill health or moving towards it.

Do you go at the same time every day? Frequency is just as important, if not more, than the timing of your poop. While your mind might get tired or bored of the routine or rhythm, your body thrives on it. Any disruption to your routine or change in frequency is a major red flag.

The last one, the smell, is a no-brainer. Poop will not smell like lavender, but it should also not smell like rat carcasses. Ideally, your poop will not smell much if you are eating well and taking good care of your health.

P.S. There is also the argument about whether your poop should float or sink. While western medicine believes that sinkers are a sign of good health, eastern medicine believes that floaters indicate optimal functioning of the systems. It is a prevalent myth that fat makes poop float. In reality, it is all down to the composition of your gut bacteria. The healthier your microbiome, the more likely you will release floaters.

Gas

Poop and gas go hand-in-hand. They are to each other as the day is to light and darkness is to night; one follows the other.

While allopathy considers gas (belching and farting) normal, even up to counts of twenty a day, Ayurveda considers all gas a dis-ease. In an optimally functioning body, there should be little to no gas escaping the system through any of its orifices. That is not to say that a body does not produce gas, but a balanced body produces just enough that it can eliminate it through breathing itself.

Besides the quantum of gas as a factor, smell is another factor to consider, more so than the quantum itself. Expelled gas should be odourless and benign. Expelled gas that turns a room into a gas chamber indicates stagnant, rooting food and endotoxin release within the body. It is a matter of grave concern and should be addressed by giving your digestive system a rest and reset.

Finally, you could also consider the where; where from do you release air? Frequent burping, especially if it smells, indicates problems and stagnation within the stomach and the small intestine. Burping, therefore, suggests a digestion concern. Farting, on the other hand is related to large intestine issues and elimination concerns.

Hunger

Hunger is arguably the most potent indicator of your health. Not only does it reveal your health, but it can also help you maintain it. Hunger is one of the basal instincts of your body, if not the most. Hunger is what drives you and every other creature as well. If hunger is disrupted within a body, that is a sure indicator that so is everything else.

If there is one signal of the body that you should honour, it is hunger. Eating when hungry and fasting when you are not is one of the most significant forms of self-love you can practice. If you do not feel hunger, that feeling of lightness, and slight irritability (think hanger), do not eat. If you are ravenous, do not abstain.

We need to relearn our hunger instinct because most of us eat not out of hunger but out of desire and pleasure. The absence of hunger is an indication that the previous meal has not been digested or that your body has other matters to attend to. The perpetual absence of hunger, and even the perpetual presence, indicates that something has gone awry. Eat only when hungry and you will be in the best shape of your life.

Skin

Your skin is your biggest organ and thus the biggest indicator of your health. It is a mirror reflecting all that is happening within your other organs, especially your digestive and detox systems. What you cannot eliminate through your detox systems, your body tries to push out through your skin. Your skin is the most altruistic organ of the body, it takes on all forms of toxins that the body cannot handle.

Most skin conditions are more likely to be indicative of problems with your internal systems rather than a problem with the skin itself. Your skin is not the criminal, it is the martyr. Take care of your internal health and watch your external one improve just as well.

No discussion of the skin is complete without a mention of your face. It is undoubtedly the most important part of the skin for most of us. Your face is more you than any other part of you. It is, as claimed by many, the map to the rest of your health and as claimed by science, the blueprint of your genes. Your face reveals everything about you and then some more.

While the jury is still out on this, the face map above does offer some interesting insight into all that is going wrong and all that is staying right. Study this map to understand your inner health but read it more like an astrological reading than an x-ray.

Energy levels

Do you find yourself reaching for that steaming cup of chai or a piping cup of coffee to power you? Do you find your energy levels fluctuating as wildly as the opinions of a “woke” teenager? Do you feel like a zombie dragging her feet all the way subsisting on food and caffeine to get through yet another day?

Humans are hardy creatures with stamina that is far superior to most other creatures, or at least that is how we should be. We should not be feeling lethargic after our meals or torpid during caffeine wear-off. This should not be the norm, it should be the exception. Caffeine should not be an everyday occurrence. Daily consumption is akin to living on borrowed money every single day. Eventually, you will have to pay the debt and find a way. If you, however, feel energy levels rising and falling like a frog on crack, then it might be worth visiting a doctor to rule out nutritional or hormonal imbalances.

Pain

You are not acutely aware of the presence of your intestines unless you have a stomach bug. You do not sense your brain unless you have a headache. You do not feel an organ when it working well; you are mindful of it only when it is not. Pain is an indicator, a signal from your body that something is not right.

Feel the pain, acknowledge it, accept it and respect what your body is trying to tell you. Pain is your body attempting to heal itself. This is why a twisted ankle hurts more the next day. Injury is not what is painful, it is healing.

Pain is your body telling you to give that organ or area a rest. Respect that and allow yourself to rest and recuperate.

Localized pain is more likely to be a problem with a certain organ or area of the body. Generalized pain, for instance, fibromyalgia, indicates an imbalance within the body. Localized pain might therefore be a lesser cause for concern (in most cases) but generalized pay needs your attention. Localized pain is a contained fire, generalized pay is an unruly inferno.

Do not attempt numb your pain with medication as far as possible. The pain is there for a reason; learn from it and heal. Localized pain is your body’s way of telling you to go easy with that area or organ; generalized pain is your body’s way of telling you to take care of, and go easy with yourself. Listen to your body and it will take care of all else.

Eyes

This last sign has more of an empirical basis than a scientific one but I could not leave this one out. The eyes, as far as I am concerned, indicate general health in the simplest and most human of ways. The eyes, after all, are the window to the soul. They reveal all that is going on within.

“The eyes, chico, they never lie.”

—Tony Montana, Scarface

I am not going to make the mistake of attempting to describe the intangible with words; that is what poetry is for. All I look out for is that sparkle within the eyes. If you are not sure or have forgotten what that looks like, look into a newborn’s eyes. It is that glimmer, glow, and radiance that bursts through. It is the vivacity for living. It is the “ojas” in Ayurveda and the “chi” in Chinese philosophy. It is the expression of life (and thus good health) itself.