Knowing Your Body Can Save Your Life

In a new study conducted by the Yale School of Medicine, results showed that 42 percent of women 55-and-older did not recognize warning signs of a heart attack when they were having one; even though 88 percent of the 24 women who participated in the study had heart disease in their family histories. Judith Lichtman, lead researcher of the Yale study, said that most of the women believed they were only suffering from indigestion or heartburn.

Stanford University Medical Center’s Dr. Paul Auerbach explained that correctly identifying “symptoms of a serious medical problem can be difficult.” This is why paying attention to your body’s messages is so important.

In traditional Chinese medicine harmonizing your life force, or qi, is the most important method for maintaining health and wellness. Often times symptoms of serious health conditions show up very early on, disguised as something minor. Allison Van Dusen reported for Forbes that “illnesses don't always present themselves in a classic textbook fashion...[s]ymptoms like throat pain can be a sign of anything from strep throat to a heart attack.”