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Signs of Toxic Overload and How to Properly Detox

Feeling fatigued, foggy, or achy? It could be toxic overload! Learn the signs & symptoms, how your body detoxes naturally, & healthy ways to support it (without fad diets!).

Contents

What is Toxic Overload?

The detoxification systems in the human body can become overwhelmed, causing toxic overload. This happens when your body has taken in more toxins than it can process.

Toxins are any substances that are harmful to our health when they collect in substantial quantities. Toxins can be split into the following three categories

  1. Chemical toxins from outside the body such as pesticides, herbicides, household cleaners, clothing dyes, perfumes, and air and water pollutants. 
  2. Bacteria, viruses, and fungi outside and inside the body.
  3. Toxins made in the body from our biological processes, including emotions, stress and carbon dioxide created from normal metabolic reactions in the body. 
Air pollution, environmental toxins that can cause toxic overload

So, how do toxins accumulate in the body?

We are exposed to environmental toxins all the time. Toxins can be absorbed, inhaled or ingested from the outside world, or made as by-products of our metabolic processes within the body. 

The human body is reasonably efficient at processing and eliminating toxins. But in today’s world there are over 85,000 man-made toxins, as well as those created in the natural world or within our own bodies. 

This high level of toxicity is putting our bodies under enormous pressure, causing auto-immune diseases, chronic conditions and ill-health. Hence it is important to support our bodies in eliminating high levels of toxins.

Environmental toxins and detoxing

Signs and Symptoms of Toxic Overload

There are many signs of toxic overload. These can include physical symptoms, such as fatigue, headaches, skin problems and digestive issues, including constipation. Many environmental toxins can also affect metabolism and hormones, leading to weight gain.

You may experience mental and emotional symptoms, including difficulty concentrating, or ‘brain fog’. Certain toxins may affect the nervous and endocrine systems, causing psychological issues, such as depression, anxiety, mood swings, and sleep disturbances.

Other potential signs that you need a body detox include an increase in allergies, muscle aches and chronic pain.

Fatigue, tiredness

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How Your Body Naturally Detoxes

The human body is designed to detox itself naturally – just as a tree’s leaves turn colour in autumn and are discarded, so our bodies send toxins to certain organs to be expelled.

The human body has a natural drainage funnel for toxins. Cellular waste products flow into organs and tissues, then to the lymphatic system, then the liver and bile ducts, and finally out of the body through the colon, while airborne waste products are expelled by the lungs.

Key organs in the natural detox process include the liver, the kidneys, the lungs and the skin. 

  1. The liver is responsible for filtering toxins from the blood and depositing them into bile. Bile is then released into the small intestine during digestion, where some is eliminated through stool, lowering the level of toxins in the body.
  2. The kidneys remove waste and extra fluid from your body, and these are expelled through urine. Your kidneys also remove acid produced by the cells of your body and maintain a healthy balance of water, salts, and minerals.
  3. You excrete waste products from your lungs an average of 850 times each hour or 20,200 times each day. Breathing is an ongoing, automatic process and a valuable ally for detoxification. Our outbound breath contains the waste product carbon dioxide, and expelling it helps to balance the body’s pH. The outbound breath also expels other toxins.
  4. Finally, the skin is a mechanism for waste product excretion via sweat, which consists primarily of excess water and salts, as well as toxic metals. Heavy metals such arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury have been shown to be present in sweat.

 

So, do we need to detox? Doesn’t our body already take care of natural detox? The simple truth is that our busy lives mean we are exposed to more toxins than ever, so it is important to recognise when our body needs help – and what can be done to support it.  

The Myth of Detox Diets

There are loads of detox products on the market – and just as many detox myths. But just using detox teas and cleanses to detox at home and remove excess toxins as fast as possible is not the most effective approach.

Fasting and fad diets are popular, but our bodies are unique. What might be a rejuvenating experience for one could be dangerous for another, so it is worth consulting a healthcare professional first. Overdoing fasting can also influence hormone levels in both men and women, which causes further health problems.

Women may face disruptions in their menstrual cycle due to alterations in the levels of reproductive hormones, while men might experience a decrease in testosterone levels. Fasting can also increase production of the stress hormone, cortisol, and affect thyroid hormones, which regulate your metabolism. This can lead to weight gain, sluggish detox systems and generally feeling worse than when you started.

Effective body detox requires a broader, whole-body approach to ensure the body’s natural drainage funnel is working properly and toxins are being expelled from the organs.

Detox drinks and fasting cleanses

Functional Medicine Approach to Detox

Every day we are exposed to many toxins. Exactly what you are exposed to will be down to your lifestyle and environment, but these exposures could be critical in dictating your lifespan.

The Exposome (and Exposomics) is a field of study that combines personal environment, genetics and lifestyle. The exposome is a measure of everything a person is exposed to throughout their life, in relation to how these exposures affect ongoing health and lifespan.

Genetics has been found to account for only around 10 per cent of diseases, the remaining causes appear to be down to an individual’s environment. For example, environmental exposures such as air pollution are a proven trigger for heart disease, which is one of the world’s biggest killers. Air pollution is also linked to cancer, reproductive problems, respiratory diseases, and neurological and immune system disorders.

Being aware of the exposome and taking small steps to minimise your exposure can be enough to dramatically decrease your vulnerability to harmful substances. Even simple steps such as making sure you leave windows open when you are using bleach and other household cleaners can reduce the absorption of toxins.

If you start to notice signs of toxin overload, it is important to accept that your body needs help to detox. Popular times of the year to undertake a detox programme include before Christmas, so you have lots of energy for those parties; in the New Year when you make resolutions to look after your body better; and before you go on holiday, so you look great – but you can detox at any time of year.

Chemical environmental toxins from cleaning products

Functional Medicine Detoxing

One way of supporting the body’s natural detox pathways is to try acupressure and massage techniques to help to support the lymphatic system, which cleanses the body of external sources of toxins and internal cellular waste and damaged proteins.

For a more whole-body detox approach, you can opt for functional health detox programmes, such as The Ozone Clinic’s detoxing treatment packages. These include Ozone Sauna Therapy, Ion Foot Cleanse and the Detox Therapy Package and Detox Advanced Package.

Ozone Sauna Therapy

Ozone Sauna Therapy is a powerful treatment for eliminating toxins, fighting free radicals and microbes, increasing blood circulation of oxygen and boosting your immune system.

It’s a natural treatment for anyone battling a chronic illness, needing a full-body detox, or someone looking to maintain and increase their vitality. Spend just 30 minutes relaxing in a personal steam sauna and enjoy all the health benefits of an infusion of ozone, carbonic acid therapy, steam, far-infrared, photon light, electrotherapy, aromatherapy and oxygen.

Some of the health benefits of Ozone Sauna Therapy can include improved circulation, a reduction in chronic infections and inflammation, elimination of toxins and viruses, improved absorption of nutrients, increased energy, reduced pain and swelling in joints and muscles, better blood pressure, improved sleep, reduced stress and improved mental wellbeing.

Ozone sauna therapy supports detoxification to reduce toxic overload

ION Foot Cleanse

ION Foot Cleanse is a detoxification and relaxation therapy which can help with toxicity, imbalanced pH levels, cognitive dysfunction, low energy/brain fog, hormone balance, pain relief, fungal and bacterial infections and gut health. You simply place your feet in a bath of warm water.  A filtered current is run through the water, which initiates a relaxation effect, the water molecules are ionised, and these ions act like billions of tiny magnets in the water to draw toxins out of the body and into the water.

ION Foot cleanse to support detoxification and toxic overload

Holistic Detoxing Programs

The Detox Therapy Package and Advanced Detox Package combine Ozone Sauna Therapy and ION Foot Cleanse with other therapies to enhance detoxification. These include PEMF (Pulsed Electro-Magnetic Field) Therapy, which improves cellular function; NESA Therapy, which stimulates the lymphatic system; and Shockwave Therapy, which improves circulation and reduces inflammation to support the removal of toxins.

Healthy Ways to Support Your Body's Natural Detoxification

Once you have had any detox treatment, it is important to continue to support your body’s natural detoxification, so that you maximise the benefits – and ensure that you do everything you can to prevent further toxin build-up.

  • Stay hydrated: Detox treatments can continue working for several hours, if not several days, after you have undergone a treatment, so it is vital to drink plenty of water and stay hydrated, which will help to flush more toxins out.
  • Nutrition: Other ways to support your body’s natural detoxification process include eating a nutrient-rich diet. Wherever possible, eat organic, wash food thoroughly, and avoid processed foods. Growing your own foods is great, because you know they are free from chemicals.
  • Movement & sleep: Implement an exercise routine and get plenty of sleep. Exercise is important because it keeps muscles strong, increases aerobic capacity, releases endorphins, burns calories, and much more! It also helps your body detoxify itself. Sleep gives your body time to recover and detoxify naturally.
  • Manage your stress – unmanaged or prolonged stress can wreak havoc on your body, resulting in unexpected aches, pains and other symptoms, such as disturbed sleep, weight gain and a rise in cortisol.
  • Limiting toxin exposure is also key – think about what is in your skincare and personal hygiene products, as well as household cleaning products and other things you come into regular contact with. Avoid walking along busy roads if you can.

Conclusion

We are in daily contact with thousands of toxins and toxic overload can happen when your body has taken in more toxins than it can process.

Toxic overload can cause many health problems, with both physical and mental symptoms.

The human body is designed to detox itself naturally, but you can improve your health by supporting and enhancing your body’s natural detoxifying capabilities.

You can do this by considering a whole-body approach and for a full-body detox, you could use one of the many functional health detox programmes available, such as The Ozone Clinic’s detoxing treatment packages.

But prioritising healthy lifestyle habits for long-term wellbeing – such as healthy eating, staying hydrated and limiting your exposure to toxins where possible – will also go a long way to supporting your body’s natural detoxification process and preventing toxic overload.

To learn more about The Ozone Clinic’s new detoxing treatment packages, please visit the respective treatment pages:  

References

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