by DAVID CSONKA via Naturally Engineered
1. Your body wants to move and to move other things.
Our anatomy was naturally engineered to run, crawl, jump, throw, kick, and perform a myriad of other activities that most people have long since relegated to childhood games and sports.
Occasionally when I am walking somewhere, I will feel an urge deep down to just break out into a run, like my legs are coiled springs straining to be released. I think once our bodies get a taste for intense and natural movement, it will long for it again like a penned up animal.
Understandably, some may avoid strenuous exercise because of the resulting soreness that is sure to follow. Sadly, they will also miss out on the resurgence of energy the body provides as well; its way of eagerly anticipating the next wonderful opportunity to move and play. If you are fortunate enough to have the ability to make full use of your physical self, it would be a shame to let it languish from inactivity.
2. Your body wants to eat real food that won’t make it sick.
Through the course of history over thousands of years, there has been a fairly predictable menu of food available for humans to eat. This included meats, seafood, vegetables, fruits, and nuts. But, in a relatively short period of time the standard diet for many of the people in the world has morphed into the products of industry and chemistry labs. This is not natural and is entirely outside the realm of what our bodies expect us to consume.
Sure, our bodies crave things like sugar, salt, and fat; they are valued energy sources and help fuel our activities. These would have been hard to come by in the wild though and certainly were not available in the quantities and forms that they are today in the modern grocery store. Seek out wholesome and unprocessed food, and let it be a medicine that heals your body.
3. Your body wants to feel the sunlight on its skin.
When the light from the sun hits our skin, it triggers a chemical reaction that ultimately gives us the Vitamin D that we need. It’s free for the taking and yet there are many in the world who are drastically deficient in this essential hormone. It has far reaching effects on many things from our mood to our ability to process and metabolize sugars.
Sure, having a nice tan looks great but do we really understand why we think it does? Maybe we find tanned skin attractive because it is often sign of somebody who is active outdoors and gets sufficient amounts of Vitamin D; both very healthy qualities.
4. Your body wants to rest in the dark.
With all of this moving, eating, and playing outdoors we still must submit to the setting of the sun each day and come inside to rest. Over thousands of years our bodies have developed circadian rhythms which are irrevocably tied to the cycle of day and night. Our hormone levels are naturally regulated by exposure to light, and prepare our bodies for sleep as the sunset fades into night.
However, sleep is not just a period of wasted time to be grudgingly accepted until we wake up to begin the next day in our busy lives. While your conscious mind may be at rest, the tissues and organs in your body are busy repairing the damage done during the previous day. Your muscles grow in anticipation of even more arduous tasks to be asked of them. And, your mind dreams, wondering and imagining all of the possible or improbable things that may come.
These four things that our bodies ask of us are like a table with four legs.
If you remove one leg, the table will probably still stand up even if it is a little unstable. Remove two legs and the table will surely fall over. We may neglect or leave out any one of these aspects from our lives, but how unstable will that cause us to become? If we neglect yet another, will we too fall over?