Have You Ever Noticed a Big Change in Your Body Chemistry?

Ten years ago, I kept my condo a consistent 78 degrees year round.

That’s right, 78 degrees. My heating bills were pretty high in the winter, but summer wasn’t bad at all. 78 degrees, day and night. It wasn’t just a personal preference–it was what my body seemed to want.

Then, almost suddenly, it changed. I think I first noticed it in the summer when I started to get these dull headaches during the day. I wasn’t sure what caused them, but my hunch was that they were temperature related. So I experimented a bit and found that 74 degrees was much better. Lately it may have even changed to 72.

I started to have similar symptoms at night until I turned the temperature all the way down to 69 degrees. That might be normal for you, but this is coming from the guy who slept with a space heater pointed at his face all night when I lived in an apartment after college.

For a while I didn’t fully realize that any of this had to do with my actual body chemistry changing, but then I saw an interview with Charlize Theron on a late-night show where she talked about how she used to smoke weed every day. It was normal for her. Then one day she lit up her daily joint and found that it made her ill. Something about her body changed, and it no longer wanted weed.

I found this fascinating–could such a change really be that drastic? And then I thought about my temperature preferences, and while it may not have happened overnight, it was pretty close.

I’ve heard similar things about stomach bacteria. I’ve eaten a lot less bread over the last 6 months than in my previous 38 years, and I now notice that I feel really bloated and full after eating a small amount of bread. I wonder if the bacteria in my stomach have changed, and they’re no longer as interested in bread–or as good at digesting it–as they once were.

All of this sounds a bit like pseudoscience as I type it, but I still find it fascinating that our bodies are continually evolving, sometimes resulting in sudden changes. Have you ever experienced something like this, whether it’s temperature, a consumable, or something else?

4 thoughts on “Have You Ever Noticed a Big Change in Your Body Chemistry?”

  1. Have the cats rebelled against the temperature change in any way? I imagine that going from 78 all night long to 69 is a big change for them!

    Reply
  2. No big surprise…my body changed, or more precisely, rejected certain types of food when I returned to running and working out. Not that I was ever a big soda-drinking, fried food eating kinda guy, but when have fried food now, the level of indigestion is absolutely painful. Now, I still love a great steak as much as I enjoy a well-prepared salad…and don’t even get me started with Indonesian food (my girlfriend is Indonesian) in which I can eat my weight of that cuisine, but if I consume anything fried, I definitely pay for it.

    Reply
    • That’s really interesting, Joe! Without knowing that, I may have thought that someone who is working out consistently may be able to more easily digest a variety of foods.

      Reply

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