Many people live with different problems like headaches, joint pain, bad breath, anxiety, insomnia, and digestive disorders like indigestion, gas and bloating. Regardless of how common these issues may be, they shouldn’t be accepted as normal, and they may be symptoms of more serious health conditions. Many people ignore these symptoms, but they often have a root cause that should be addressed. Let’s take a closer look at why common doesn’t mean normal and why you shouldn’t overlook these symptoms.
Common Symptoms
The majority of people deal with at least one symptom each day, and for many people it’s the same type of symptoms each day. Think about all the people you know, and how many of them have headaches, joint pain, bad breath, insomnia, anxiety, depression, heartburn, IBS, or more than one of these. These issues have become so common that people tend to brush them off and view them as a normal part of their life, but they shouldn’t be viewed that way. Many of these symptoms are the first warning signs of health issues that may come later in life, and they often have a cause that can be fixed early on before it gets worse.
Possible Causes
Sometimes these symptoms are due to a problem that’s relatively easy to fix like chronic dehydration, stress, or vitamin and mineral deficiencies. However, sometimes they are due to more complicated issues like heavy metal toxicity, mold exposure, and unknown food allergies and intolerances. Some of these possible causes are quite common, although doctors and patients often don’t consider them. For example, one survey found that an estimated 75% of Americans were chronically dehydrated. The human body uses water in all of its cells, tissues and organs, so adequate water intake is crucial to overall health. Although this is a very common issue, most people don’t know the damage it can cause, so education is key.
What You Can Do
Some of the more complicated issues would require extensive testing that’s often unreliable to identify if it’s the cause or not, so trying to fix the simple causes first is a good place to start. Headaches are commonly caused by dehydration, and if you are chronically dehydrated, which can occur if you consistenly drink less water than your body needs, then the occasional headache can turn into chronic headaches and migraines. So, drinking enough water each day, which is about 64 ounces for the average adult, is a good habit to get in to. You should also make sure you are getting enough electrolytes each day.
Another simple habit to add is taking a multivitamin each day, as this can help ensure your body is getting the nutrients it needs each day. While eating a diet that contains plenty of fruits, vegetables, good fats and meats is one of the most important things you can do for your health, it can still be difficult to get all of the necessary nutrients from food alone. Much of the soil used to grow produce is heavily depleted in minerals, meaning the plants that grow in that soil will also be lower in nutrients than they should be. This is why taking supplements is much more important than it used to be.
If you begin consuming enough water and electrolytes each day, eating a healthy diet, and taking a multivitamin, and you still don’t notice a difference in your symptoms, then you may want to consider some of the more complicated causes. However, testing for these issues can quickly get expensive and stressful, and in the case of heavy metal toxicity and mold exposure, testing is often unreliable and inaccurate, so ruling out the simple causes first is usually easier. Even though these symptoms have become more and more common, they shouldn’t be considered normal. Your health is one of the most valuable things you have, so do your best to take care of it!
If you are having any serious or unusual symptoms such as sudden headache, chest pain, stomach pain, bloody stool, etc. consult your physician or call emergency services immediately.
You can listen to our When Feeling Bad Becomes Normal podcast episode here. You can also listen to it on our YouTube channel here.