Body aches can come from a multitude of reasons and will subside relatively quickly. However, in some cases, individuals may have lasting pain in areas of the body causing trouble when completing day to day tasks. Body soreness can cause constant discomfort and affect mental and physical ability. While generally harmless in lasting situations medical attention may be required. Understanding why body aches occur can help a person self-diagnose and fix the issue from a comfortable location. Having a knowledgeable background of why your body may be reacting can help individuals decide whether to seek further medical assistance or work to fix it from home.
Aches throughout the body can be described from a dull constant soreness to sharp pain with high intensity. The types and locations of aches will depend on the root cause of the discomfort. Common symptoms include muscle cramps, fatigue, and joint stiffness. Most people believe muscle and joint stress to be caused from overworking your body in a physical sense due to heavy lifting or intense contact. While this can be true on many occasions there are many other reasons why your body can be responding negatively. Additional causes are related to diet and various sicknesses. Other external factors to consider when self-diagnosing body aches include:
1. Dehydration
Dehydration is often an overlooked cause of body pain. Most dehydration that people have experienced is mild and can cause a lack of physical energy and mental sharpness. However, if severe dehydration occurs important parts of your body may begin shutting down. Most notably dehydration can cause muscle cramps. The lack of h2o in your system along with poor levels of electrolytes creates issues when your body tries to break down glycogen, the chemical responsible for releasing glucose into your bloodstream. The lack of glucose in your bloodstream can cause problems when your muscles are trying to activate. The most common symptoms of on setting dehydration are muscle cramps and headaches. If dehydration begins occurring your muscles will become stiffer due to the lack of quality blood flow. As your muscles work harder to activate the pain and soreness can get worse.
Remember, your brain is a muscle too. Lack of quality blood flow can cause muscle cramping in your head and potentially even trigger intense migraines. An easy way to see if dehydration may be the cause of body aches is by checking your urine. If your urine is clear with a hint of yellow you are most likely okay. However, if your urine is darker and beginning to change to a dark yellow or even an orange color it is quite probable you are dehydrated. Do your best to drink between 3 and 3.5 liters of water a day. That is roughly 12-15 cups per day to stay properly hydrated.
2. Stress
Stress is much more prevalent in everyday life than most think. Triggers that cause stressful situations cause your body to focus on situations other than staying healthy. An influx of stress can be responsible for high heart rate, blood pressure fluctuations, and muscle tension. Stress even lowers the body’s ability to fight infections and control inflammation. This, in turn, means your body is not focused on what it needs to be doing to mitigate potential threats and therefore may cause body aches. Focused breathing and meditation, talking with someone, or removing yourself from stressful environments are all good ways to fight high levels of stress and lower the potential for body aches.
3. Sleep
One of the most influential causes of body pain is a lack of sleep. One of the best indicators for muscle and joint discomfort is a lack of recovery time. Types of sleep issues can include a lack of sleep, insufficient sleep, and insomnia. All of which harm the body’s restoration process. The most unfortunate aspect of when relating sleep and pain is that both issues exacerbate each other. This means that if a poor night’s sleep creates pain the following day that pain can in turn cause another night’s sleep to be affected.
From then on the body has entered a negative cycle that will continue to build day after day. Adding in additional tasks and a nine-to-five work week and the problem can increase and therefore prolong the issue. Staying on a regular sleep schedule will allow your body to have the proper time of recovery that is required. Taking sleep medication before you start your work week can increase your chances of maintaining a positive sleep schedule.
4. Cold or Flu
A common cold or flu comes as no surprise when the topic of body aches comes up. Like stress when a cold begins its cycle the body must respond. The body will act accordingly and commits most of its energy in fighting the cold rather than its normal day to day responsibilities. As your body temperature increases while the body fights the cold an individual may experience chills and body shakes. Accompanied with the lack of body focus on muscle groups you may find yourself fatigued and sore extremely quickly. Adding additional clothing may reduce chills and increase muscle warmth to soothe sore muscles. Additionally, the use of acetaminophen or ibuprofen on top of cold medicine will focus in on reducing muscle tension and inflammation while your body fight the cold.
5. Anemia
Anemia can be directly responsible for pain anywhere in the body. Often anemia can affect entire areas if not the whole body at any given time. The lack of healthy red blood cells means your body will not be fueling its muscles primarily due to the lack of oxygen delivery. Having a lack of nutrition delivery within your body can cause massive on setting fatigue to your muscle groups rendering them tired and sore without doing any extra work. Just like we are looking for the root cause of body aches there is a root cause of anemia, iron deficiency. Taking iron supplements can counteract the negative effects of anemia and boost your red blood cell count allowing for more oxygen delivery to your muscles which means less body soreness.
6. Vitamin D
A Vitamin D deficiency, or mild insufficiency, is quite common. The England Journal of Medicine estimates that 6% or roughly 1 in 20 individuals has low levels of vitamin D. If you are experiencing a dull aching sensation it is likely that it is due to weak bones rather than muscle aches. Vitamin D is a necessary part of creating and growing strong bones. While calcium is also required Vitamin D is responsible allowing your bones to absorb the calcium. A lack of Vitamin D creates a weak bones that can be noticed when putting stress on the body by applying pressure. Adding more Vitamin D to your diet or seeing more sun can help you combat a Vitamin D deficiency.
7. Mono
Mono is caused by the virus Epstein-Barr which is extremely common. The main symptom reported by patients is prolonged muscle fatigue. The fatigue caused by mono can range from hardly noticeable to full incapacitation. Unfortunately, because the fatigue range is so large many individuals that report body aches may be experiencing a milder case of mono. However, the muscle fatigue is generally due to inflammation within your muscles. If your body is experiencing prolonged muscle fatigue that can be subsided with the use of anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen you should consult a physician to receive blood work. Otherwise the body aches can be combated with anti-inflammatory drugs and may eventually subside with extra sleep.
8. Pneumonia
Pneumonia is a virus that can cause very severe aches and pains throughout your body but primarily the body’s chest and upper back. The virus affects the body’s lung(s) as they fill with fluid or puss. The lungs in the body will have less opportunity to deliver oxygen to the bloodstream causing additional body aches in the rest of the body. Pneumonia must be treated to be fixed and as the lungs continue to fill with liquid the body will continue receiving less healthy blood and the severity of the pain will increase. Unlike mono pneumonia is not an illness that you can combat with over the counter drugs and extra sleep. If body aches are severe in the upper torso region, continue to get worse throughout the body, and are accompanied with a severe cough consult a physician immediately.
