5 Things You Need to Build a Healthy Relationship with Your Body
Mind and matter, not matter over mind
In society today we get so involved in the lives of other people. There are dozens of social media outlets like facebook, instagram, tumblr, and a host of other outlets that let us have access to so much information about other people. Although there are benefits of having these available to us, there are also some drawbacks. The outlets listed above often promote judgemental or over-critical behaviors like slut shaming, body shaming, etc. As part of my health series, I’m going to specifically talk about the opposite of body shaming, which is body loving, and I don’t mean the physical act of love.
On social media it doesn’t seem to matter what body type you’ve been blessed with, someone will invent a reason to criticize it. Too skinny. Too fat. Too tall. Wrong proportions. Too broad. Never good enough.
The concept that I want to emphasize is that your body is a vehicle for you and is subject to you. All bodies are good bodies or swimsuit bodies or beach bodies or whatever. You need to build a relationship with your body. However, relationships aren’t always healthy. In romantic relationships, there are things that can create a toxic environment including varying means of disrespect. In a healthy relationship, feelings are reciprocated and there is a general respect for one another. So the question is this: how can you help your body reciprocate your love for it?
Take care of it. It’s that simple.
Obviously there are some health conditions that can prevent your body from taking you where you want it to, but in general there are a few things your body needs in order to reciprocate and create a good relationship.
1. Energy
Sleep is what gives your body energy. It lets you recalibrate after a long day of mental and physical use. It helps speed the process of physical growth or repair, and it lets your brain process the events or feelings of the day. If you aren’t getting an adequate amount of sleep, your body won’t function at its best and will strain to accomplish the things you need it to.
TIP: Aim for 7–9 hours of sleep. “Study shows that moderate sleep deprivation produces impairments equivalent to those of alcohol intoxication.”
2. Fuel
FOOD. Food is your fuel and if you fuel yourself with crap, your body will feel like crap. If you don’t give your vehicle enough fuel, it will fail itself and come to a halt somewhere along the highway. Likewise, if you don’t give your body enough fuel, it will stall throughout the day.
TIP: in general, adult humans should be eating a minimum of 1200 calories per day.
3. Hydration
Our bodies are over 50% water. There are many physical issues that can be solved by water. Tighter skin, less headaches, feeling less bloated, etc. Peeing all the time is definitely worth the benefits of hydration.
TIP: Contrary to popular belief, 8 glasses of water a day isn’t enough water for everyone. A more exact way to calculate how much you should be drinking is to divide your weight by 2 and that is the number of ounces you should be drinking everyday. Example: 150lb = 75oz of water
4. Use
If we don’t use our bodies, we will end up like these guys
or even worse: dead.
The more we use our bodies, the better they will become. Use can include any sort of movement. Going up stairs, walking to the kitchen, actual exercise, anything where you aren’t sitting on your butt for extended periods of time.
TIP: If you have a sedentary job, you should still try to get up and move around for a few minutes every couple hours.
If you neglect any of those four things, you in fact will die. Denying your body of these necessary material things will make it so your body will not max out its potential. If it’s not living up to its potential, it won’t serve you as well as it could.
5. Love
I put this one last, because it isn’t technically a necessity. You can live without loving your body, but those people are often miserable and uncomfortable with themselves. They’ve built the relationship, but if they hate their body then it is a toxic one. What goes on in your mind about your body is just just a few hairs shy of being just as important as how you treat your body physically.
TIP: Having a healthy relationship with yourself requires you to no longer need validation from others to be happy with yourself.
I do want to emphasize that this article is NOT about losing weight or getting skinny in order to love your body. That’s not what I’m trying to say.
Wellness is more important than weight. You can be beautiful, wonderful, even generally healthy, at all in-extreme weights. This list above WILL help you build a healthy relationship between you and your body and will help you develop a sense of wellness.
Take care of your body, and it will take care of you. Let your body love you by giving it something to reciprocate.
