Whole body health is something of extreme importance to me. Whether you believe it or not your mind, body, and spirit are all intertwined. Did you know that emotional and spiritual exhaustion have similar effects on the body? Because of this people who have an empath personality are more likely to experience negative health impacts.
What is an empath personality?
Empaths easily feed off the energy of those around them because of the fact they’re extremely sensitive to others emotions whether good or bad. It’s common for empaths to be introverts since they can become easily overwhelmed feeding off others energies. Dr. Orloff, who is an expert on empath personalities, describes being an empath as both a blessing and a curse. It’s easy for empaths to find deep compassion and care for others, but this can become not-so-great when they’re surrounded by negative, pessimistic people.
Due to the fact empaths are constantly absorbing the energies of others it’s easy for them to become stressed out causing an excess of cortisol in the body. Although it isn’t physical stress they experience, the mental stress is just as draining. This commonly leads them to experience insomnia, fatigue, exhaustion and other negative hormone related symptoms such as adrenal fatigue.
What is adrenal fatigue?
The adrenal glands are responsible for producing several vital hormones for the body that help regulate your metabolism, immune system, blood pressure, help your body respond to stress and other essential bodily functions. When your adrenal glands are no longer producing one or more of these hormones efficiently it causes adrenal fatigue. Adrenal fatigue can have a range of symptoms from body aches, fatigue, anxiety, sleeping problems, low blood pressure, unexplained weight loss and digestive problems.
What can an empath do to relieve symptoms?
Dr. Orloff provides several recommendations in her book The Empath’s Survival Guide: Life Strategies for Sensitive People that I believe are a great place to start and I have listed a few below.
1. Meditate- take just a few short minutes a day to recognize the stress and let it go.
2. Set limits- learn how to say “no”, set boundaries, and limit the time you’re exposed to stressful people.
3. Visualize a protective shield- sometimes you can’t avoid stress, but if you visualize a protective shield research has shown it can assist in healing your body and mind.
Ultimately for those with an empath personality self care is key to a happy, healthy life. Try practicing some of the recommendations made by Dr. Orloff and with time you will be able to limit the amount of fatigue, insomnia, and/or exhaustion you might be experiencing.
