Your body has a whole range of special early warning systems that warn you about potential problems and ensure potential damage is kept to a minimum.  Angina is probably one of the best-known early warning signs of physical distress, but there are many others.

What should we do when our body’s early warning system is set off?  Dr. Vernon Coleman offers some advice.

By Dr. Vernon Coleman

The following essay is taken from my book `Bodypower’ which was, in 1983, my first Sunday Times bestselling book. It’s still accurate and timely.

Your Body’s Early Warning Systems

Your body has a whole range of special early warning systems. These are designed to give you advance notice of any problems which seem likely to arise and to ensure that potential damage is kept to a minimum.

For example, if your heart is under too much strain and the small vessels which supply it with blood are not able to pump in fluid at a fast enough rate, you will start to suffer chest pains. These pains, usually known as angina, are not in themselves life-threatening. Nor do they suggest that there is any desperately serious life-threatening disorder present. You are being told that your heart has reached its limits and that if you want to avoid any further damage you must make some adjustments to your way of life. You must either change your eating and exercise habits so that your heart can enjoy a better blood supply or you must reduce its workload.

Angina is probably one of the best-known early warning signs of physical distress, but there are many others. Indigestion, for example, is nothing more than an indication that your stomach is finding it difficult to cope with the quality and quantity of food that you’re putting into it. Muscle cramps that come on during exercise are an early sign intended to show you that your muscles are using up oxygen and food faster than fresh supplies are being provided.

Although many of the most obvious early warning signs relate to specific physical illnesses, there are also those which are intended to tell you when your body is run down and when you are in genuine need of a rest. When the problem is a general one, the signs will usually appear as a whole series of apparently trivial ailments. You may suddenly find that you are getting lots of coughs and colds, or that you are suffering from spots and boils.

Just as the body can get tired and may show early signs of physical distress, so the mind can become world-weary and may need a break from the daily pressures. For example, you may feel lethargic, off-colour or generally out-of-sorts – all these vague symptoms may suggest that you have been pushing yourself too hard. If you are unusually irritable or impulsive, if your memory begins to fail you, if you can’t get to sleep, if you become intolerant of noise, if your ability to concentrate seems to have gone or if your willpower seems to have disappeared, if you find yourself crying, overreacting and unable to deal with trivial tasks, the chances are high that you have been doing too much. Your mind needs a rest.

Many people do recognise that these are all signs of overwork and excess pressure but find themselves unable to do anything constructive to help themselves because they feel guilty if they stop working. Those of us who refuse to listen to these simple warning signs and to take notice of our bodies when they tell us to take things easy for a while, should perhaps remember that some of the greatest men and women the world has ever known happily cut themselves off from all outside contacts whenever they felt themselves to be under too much pressure. Charles Darwin used to pretend to be physically ill in order to give himself a chance to rest in bed whenever he felt himself to be under too much strain. So did Florence Nightingale, Marcel Proust, Sigmund Freud and many others.

Carried to excess, this type of behaviour may well be described as malingering. Employed with care and thought, it is more accurately described as common sense.

Learn to know your weak points

Most of us have a weak point. When we are under too much stress or too much pressure we develop symptoms of a particular type. Learn to know your weak point – as the symptoms begin to develop, you’ll know that you are pushing yourself too hard.

Here are some of the commonest “weak point” signs:

* Headache
* Skin rash
* Indigestion
* Wheezing
* Diarrhoea
* Chest pains
* Palpitations
* Insomnia
* Irritability

All of them show that you are beginning to suffer actual physical damage as a result of the stress to which you have exposed yourself. Your stress threshold has been reached.

Spot your own weak point and act on the warning it provides.

The above essay is taken from ‘Bodypower’ by Vernon Coleman.

About the Author

Vernon Coleman MB ChB DSc practised medicine for ten years. He has been a full-time professional author for over 30 years. He is a novelist and campaigning writer and has written many non-fiction books.  He has written over 100 books which have been translated into 22 languages. On his website, www.vernoncoleman.com,  there are hundreds of articles which are free to read.