Listen to Your Body: Friend not Foe
Free image Pixabay E. Akyurt
Many of us grew up with a no pain no gain philosophy. Taught to suck it up, push through, and work harder. The concept of self-care, rest, and recharge were non-existent. For those living with medical conditions, illness, or injuries, our bodies can often feel like a barrier to our goals.
Pain and fatigue can be frustrating—something you probably wish would just go away. However, more you try to block them out, and your body feels unheard, the more your body may shout. Before you ignore these signals, stop to consider that they can be a valuable source of information and one of the keys to helping your symptoms subside.
A major role of our nervous system is to provide information related to our safety, health, and well-being. We have billions of nerve cells (also known as neurons) sending signals regarding all the parts of our body, movements, decisions, environment, emotions, and more (IQWiG, 2023). Many of these responses happen automatically, or involuntarily, to keep our bodies running effectively and to keep us out of danger.
It is important to work with your body each day and be curious about what your body communicating. Ignoring and pushing through acute symptoms without adequate recovery and rest can end up resulting in ongoing long-term conditions. In my practice, I find client’s nervous systems often “speak” about stress, trauma, and overwhelm through areas of the body in which there is already an open line of communication—such as old injuries, headaches, and other existing medical symptoms.
Learning how to speak the language of your nervous system and implementing proactive tools can help settle or prevent flare ups. Treatments, such as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) specially tailored for chronic pain and medical conditions, can help to gain insight into root causes, communicate with your nervous system, help process stored trauma responses, and manage symptoms (Grant, 2025).
Working with your body, and treating it like a friend asking for support, yields better results, can speed recovery times, and increase quality of life.
Tonia Anderson is a Registered Psychologist (RPsych), specializing in health and performance psychology. Clients benefit from over 25 years experience, including a Bachelor of Physical Education and advanced training in EMDR for the treatment of pain, chronic medical conditions, and unexplained medical symptoms. Book a free consultation with Tonia to learn more about listening to your body, injury/surgery recovery, health and wellness, and nervous system regulation at https://toniaandersonpsychology.janeapp.com or email tonia@toniaandersonpsycholocolgy.ca to get started.
References
Grant, Mark (2025). Neuropsychology, Chronic Pain and EMDR. https://www.overcomingpain.com/neuropsychology
Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG), 2023. In brief: How does the nervous system work? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279390/