Practical Tips to Help Your Body Heal Faster
We all dread getting slammed by sickness or getting injured. When your health unexpectedly takes a downturn, it impacts your ability to work, your ability to spend time with your family, and other important aspects of your life.
I've never met a person who got sick or injured and just decided to kick back and enjoy the break. No, everyone wants to heal as fast as possible!
Fortunately, there are a number of things that will influence the speed of recovery and help your body heal itself.
How Does the Body Self-Heal?
Your body is designed to heal itself on a cellular level. That is why I frequently talk about metabolic processes.
There are many specific cellular responses to injury and illness. Waste products are taken away. The right neurotransmitters, helper cells, and biochemicals get taken to the right places.
Every cell in your body is either next to or very close to a capillary. Capillaries are tiny blood vessels that are only one cell thick. Oxygen and carbon dioxide are exchanged between the blood in the capillaries and the cell.
When you breathe deeply and have abundant oxygen in your blood, your cells benefit. When the fluids of the body are circulating well, the cells get an ample supply of oxygen and nutrients they need for the healing process.
Our most important, fundamental resource is the body's own ability to heal.
How to Help Speed Up Healing
There are several practical things you can do to support your body's self-healing and help ensure that it has everything it needs to heal.
Eat healthy. Good nutrition is very important. Make sure you have all the minerals and vitamins you need. Eat well, and take supplements if needed.
Stay well-hydrated. Make sure the body has the fluid it needs to maintain good circulation, which is vital to healing.
Get plenty of sleep.
Exercise.
Practice some form of stress relief.
Avoid things that cause inflammation. This may include sugar, alcohol, and fried foods.
Use breathing practices. Breathing practices, or even just deep breathing in general, can help on many levels.
Seek good company, good relationships, and good times. Depending on the degree of your sickness or injury, this one may be difficult to achieve. But whenever possible, place yourself in a happy and low-stress environment.
Do you see how all of these things are general and create general good health? The healthier you are, the faster you will get better, especially if you have chronic problems.
When to Seek Treatment
Treatments and interventions can facilitate the healing process. However, knowing when to seek treatment is difficult to discern.
A general rule of thumb that I find helpful is that if something has not gotten better by itself after three weeks, it’s a good time to look for treatment.
Waiting for months to have treatment can cement the problem into the body. Your body will start compensating for the problem, which puts stress on the healthy tissues. Additionally, the discomfort can interfere with sleeping and one’s state of mind. Having treatment before these things settle in will lead to a speedier recovery.
If a problem is chronic or recurrent, more resources will be required to deal with it.
I suggest starting with holistic manual therapy. The osteopathic approach seeks to facilitate the function of the different body systems by removing restrictions, and has helped hundreds of patients here at Finn Physical Therapy.