Toxic relationships have a negative impact on the psyche. But did you know that your body also signals that it is time to break them, even if you refuse to even think about it? No matter how much you convince yourself that everything is fine, your body says the opposite. He cannot be fooled!
6 body signals that you are in a toxic relationship
Check if you are trapped with an abusing partner, and it’s time to put things in order in your personal life?
Constant loss of strength
In an unhealthy relationship, all of the body’s resources are spent fighting the toxic partner. As a result, you feel emotionally drained, and then physically. Your body does not have time to rest and reboot to recover resources and energy. You are ready to repel the attack and defend yourself at any time. Anxiety never leaves you and becomes a background feeling. You are like an antelope in the savannah, which a predator can attack at any moment.
But the antelope will run away in case of a threat, but you have nowhere to run, so the body responds with chronic stress, a feeling of fatigue, and apathy. The weaker you are physical, the easier it is for the abuser to manipulate you. There is no moral attitude without physical strength, so you cannot pack up your things and leave. This will become an overwhelming task for you in the truest sense of the word.
Cravings for junk food and alcohol
Of course, the desire to drink a few glasses of wine in the company of friends or even alone with a TV show does not mean that you have an addiction to drinking. In the same way, the irresistible craving to immediately eat a bar of chocolate or shawarma can be explained. Rather, you need to pay attention to the following signals that your body gives you:
- you are constantly hungry and do not gorge on your usual food;
- you are disgusted with even the most familiar healthy food (for example, you are disgusted with the thought of eating an apple);
- you are always drawn to “tasty”, and, as a rule, there are no proteins and fiber in it, but it is full of fats and carbohydrates;
- you cannot live a day without festive food ( cakes, pastries …);
- you constantly have snacks, choosing food with a pungent smell and taste (garlic, smoked sausage …);
- and you are also attracted to alcohol, although you have never been known for your love of alcohol. These are the consequences of chronic stress.
Problems with digestion
They are not necessarily related to the previous point, just all processes in the body are interconnected, and hormones affect the digestive system. Stress causes the body to produce cortisol and adrenaline, which provide blood flow to the brain, muscles and heart. The body is given a “fight or flight” signal. This slows down digestion, which is why you don’t feel like eating before your interview or exam.
When you are in a toxic relationship, you do not give your body a break from stress, and it stays in it all the time. You may not overeat, switch to fancy foods, or drink three cans of beer after dinner, but you still won’t get away from digestive problems. Stomach pain, bloating, constipation, nausea … these and other symptoms indicate that it is time for you to end the abusive relationship.
Skin problems
Acne, dryness, and redness of the skin are direct consequences of stress. But there is a much more powerful signal that fatigue, poor diet, or care is difficult to overlook or explain. This is psychogenic itching.
A permanent suppressed emotional state provokes it, and neither antihistamines, moisturizing the skin, nor hormonal ointments designed to combat chronic skin diseases can cope with it.
Itchy skin can also cause problems with the thyroid gland and even some types of tumors. But if you were at the doctor and he did not find any abnormalities in your health, and you continue to itch, this is it. Psychogenic itching is a severe, debilitating condition that can be controlled with sedatives. But if you do not eliminate the true cause of its appearance, nothing will change.
Pain that has no explanation
Unprovoked migraines, headaches, and chronic body aches are also reactions to constant stress. You can be monitored by a doctor for years and still not find out why their appearance. Sometimes it even comes to calling an ambulance because the heart hurts. And after the EKG, you are reassured with the phrase, “you have osteochondrosis / intercostal neuralgia”.
You return home, and pain appears in your leg, back, or elsewhere after three days. You are unlikely to suspect a serious health problem, blaming it on changing weather, fatigue, or an old injury. In fact, yes, fatigue, but only unhealthy.
Problems with memory and attention
Living with an abuser exacerbates all of the above problems, which are a stress response. You are forced to be on full alert and live only in unhealthy relationships. Violence pushes you to find new ways to protect yourself and avoid problems. Imagine looking at the contents of a grocery basket while standing in line at the checkout in a supermarket. What is a woman who is doing well in her personal life thinking at this moment?
Well, probably, about how best to marinate the purchased chicken before baking it. Or how good it was that her favorite fruits were discounted today. Or that it’s time to free up space in the bathroom cabinet because there is no more room for toilet paper. What is the victim of toxic relationship thinking?
That you will have to make excuses, where so much money was spent (economic violence is also a sign of an abuser). About the fact that I bought not nonsense, but necessary things. The fact that her favorite sausage was not in the store and he had to take another. About the fact that she passed her favorite sweets, although I so wanted to buy, but where – and so fat, it is better never to eat them again.
And this is just one example that becomes a reality if you are in a toxic relationship. What is there to be surprised if there is not enough attention and memory for everything else? But there is good news: breaking with the abuser will completely restore all body functions. It remains only to understand that unhealthy relationships are the cause of the imbalance.
