You switch from one diet to the next. No gluten, no sugar, no dairy, then a nutritionist, lab tests, supplements and "anti-inflammatory" protocols. But the fatigue stays, the bloating shows up for no visible reason, digestion is sluggish, and you can't even describe the general feeling of being run down. Psychologist Raquel Córdoba has an uncomfortable answer: maybe the problem isn't only what you eat, but also how you live.

First, what any serious professional has to say: when something is physically wrong, "you need to see a doctor and have the necessary tests done to rule out organic causes". The problem, she says, starts when we stop there. "We forget to look at ourselves as a whole. Our psychological and emotional state can affect our physical wellbeing. What we think, feel and live through is reflected in the body."

The mechanism isn't mysticism. When the nervous system is constantly activated, for example by intense and prolonged stress, physiological responses kick in, including the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. The body gets ready to respond to something it reads as a threat or a demand. Córdoba compares it to a car that is constantly driven at higher revs than it can handle: it copes for a while, then starts to feel the strain. "Fatigue, muscle tension, sleep problems, digestive disorders, pain or other symptoms associated with prolonged stress can appear." And she immediately adds a caveat worth remembering: this doesn't mean emotions on their own are the cause of a complaint or an illness.

Health, she says, is always multifactorial: genetics, habits, sleep, diet, exercise, living conditions, environment, relationships and psychological state are all intertwined. It isn't about reducing a physical illness to an emotional problem, but about widening the focus. Maybe we spend too long asking what to cut from our diet, and too little time asking what we have too much of - or too little of - in our lives. "The mind sometimes lies to us, but the body always tells the truth," the psychologist says. We can convince ourselves it's nothing serious and that we just have to push through, while the body keeps reacting to a situation it experiences as stressful. How many times have you heard the advice "grin and bear it, it'll pass"?

This is where people and circumstances come in. A job where you're treated badly, abusive relationships, a home where you can't rest, constant family arguments, friendships that do harm - all of it can keep the body under heavy stress. "When we maintain relationships that make us live with a constant source of stress, fear or anxiety, we can slowly start to burn out," Córdoba explains. The emotional state can then express itself through the body too, a phenomenon known as somatisation. In her practice, she says, she often sees people whose physical complaints go hand in hand with an enormous difficulty setting boundaries. People who have kept quiet, endured and put up with things for years.

Her approach has three steps. First, self-awareness: learning to recognise your emotions, thoughts and physical reactions, and asking yourself what is happening to you and what you need. Second, emotional regulation: not to stop feeling fear, sadness, anger or guilt, but to know what to do with them, so you don't have to keep suppressing them, running from them or being flooded by them. Third, action - and this is where boundaries come in: saying "no", asking for help, stepping away from situations when you can, and saying what you need. "Setting boundaries isn't rejecting others. Often it's stopping rejecting yourself," she says.

Córdoba isn't selling illusions, though. Not everyone can immediately quit a job, move house, cut off a family relationship or get out of a difficult financial situation. But anyone can start to recognise what is happening to them and stop normalising suffering. Her list is modest: good relationships with people you don't have to be on guard with, a sense of belonging - even if it's a Tuesday pottery class - rest before exhaustion, movement without a compulsory gym, food without guilt, and pleasure that isn't a reward for productivity but a need.

And one more thing: patience. We live surrounded by urgency - messages answered instantly, orders that arrive the next day, videos a few seconds long. "We weren't made to live permanently in a state of urgency," the psychologist says. Her prescription sounds almost rebellious: walk without hurrying, sleep, be bored, wait, cook, talk without looking at your phone. And listen to what you feel - before your body has to scream it at you.