In this post, I’m going to highlight key factors which support your body in favour of proficiently detoxifying itself on a day to day basis. During my first blog post on detoxification (which can be found here), I outlined some favourable oral compounds which have been shown to be potent detoxifiers of the body when used on a regular basis. Today I am going to list a number of important and critical lifestyle factors that both support the oral compounds I previously spoke about as well as offer crucial and potent detoxification factors within themselves.
Prior to sharing my list, it is very important to understand that the body is inherently knowledgeable and able to produce balanced detoxification on its own. That being said, given what we are inundated with in todays world, the human body has been forced to compensate enough to its surrounding stressors that it’s no longer able to rely fully upon itself to fully handle and detoxify to its optimal extent. As such, there are a number of simple and effective lifestyle activities that should be practiced regularly to aid the body in this process. Additionally, regardless of what type of detox support you provide the body, it’s essential to ensure the organs of elimination (ie. bowels, kidneys, lymphatic system, cardiovascular system, nervous system, liver, lungs) are well supported and functioning optimally (more on this in later posts).
The goal of regular detoxification (I’m referring to daily detoxification) is to mobilize, bind and eliminate toxins that have accumulated in the body over a lifetime (read more here).
Here is the list of lifestyle practices you can begin to incorporate daily that have been shown to i) provide direct detoxification effects, ii) support the foundations of detoxification in the body, and iii) offer significant adjunctive synergy in the presence of oral and other detoxification practices (we will go into individual detox practice details one by one in future posts):
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Cold Exposure (cold plunging, hot/cold water hydrotherapy)
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Morning and Evening Sun Exposure (“eyes to the sky”, no glasses/sunglasses)
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Mobility Exercises/Physical Movement/Exercise
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Moderate/Sustainable Increases In Heart Rate/Breathing (cardiovascular exercise).
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Sweating
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Diaphragmatic Breathing
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Near Infrared Sauna Use
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Red Light Therapy
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Barefoot Grounding/Earthing
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“Forest Bathing”/Being in Nature
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Epsom Salt Baths
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Reducing/Avoiding Exposure to WiFi
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Living in Natural Light (candles in evening, limit/avoid fluorescent lighting).
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Lymphatic Exercises
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Exposure to Rivers/Streams/Waterfalls/Oceans
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Structured Water (EZ Water) Ingestion/Support in/to Your Body
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Proper Hydration
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Sufficient Salt Intake
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Fasting
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Dry Brushing
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Optimizing Sleep
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Laughter/ Happiness / Community
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Massage
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Addressing/Detoxing Emotional Trauma
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Prayer/ Meditation / Peace
The above list is by no means exhaustive, however contain some of the more common and effective ways to support the detoxification process. I purposefully refrained from focusing on things to avoid (with the exception of one or two above) as I want to focus on the positive in this post and also will dive into the ‘what slows and inhibits the body’s ability to detoxify’ in future posts.
My next post will focus on dietary measures of detoxification, followed by a discussion on ‘what does detoxification look like in the body and how is it accomplished”. So stay tuned for these and additional detox posts!
Dr Jeremy Hayman, ND helps patients at Cornerstone Naturopathic Inc. feel better, live better, and achieve optimal wellness and health. Years of patient care coupled with dedication to personal life balance has helped Dr Jeremy employ the adage that “your approach to health should be simple”.
