Lifestyle

Exercise and being physically active is the cornerstone of health and longevity. If you are not taking the time to structure physical activity into your daily/weekly routine, you are doing yourself a massive disservice. The body will never be stronger or carry more muscle than is required by the stresses imposed on it, meaning – if ya don’t use it, you’ll lose it. And fast. Studies now show that the more muscle you have, especially heading into the later years on life, is associated with a significant decrease in all cause mortality. If you want to maintain your health and feel great in your later years, the discipline and consistency with exercise must be established early on and made to be a non-negotiable in your daily routine. What this looks like will vary greatly from person to person, but hands down the most practical form of exercise for building muscle and decreasing your risk of disease development is resistance training. Performing resistance training 2-4 times per week for 45-60 minutes is a great way to impose the physical stress necessary to build muscle when following an effective and well thought out exercise routine that is based around heavy, compound exercises that use your body in a functional manner. For some, exercise is more about the mental health gains and choosing to exercise every day may be more practical – and for these people, doing shorter more frequent bouts of exercise may be more practical.

Because exercise is also a stress (eustress or positive stress) it must also be managed in accordance with the rest of an individuals lifestyle stresses. Someone who exercises 7 days a week must then appreciate that intensity must be managed to ensure overtraining does not occur at which point exercise becomes a net negative and compounding stress on the body which will not lead to health.

As humans, we are nothing without the foods in which we consume. You may have heard the old saying “you are what you eat” and this is not far from true. Eating a healthy, balanced and nutrient dense diet will be pivotal to your success when pursuing health and performance. Our bodies rely on and function based on the energy that we can extract from the foods consumed. If the diet consists of poor quality, refined, processed and low nutrient density foods then the energy and nutrition extracted from those foods will be low and lead to a decrease in health. Eating a diet that is primarily based around whole food sources that are ingredients vs foods that have tons of ingredients will be essential for maintenance of health and having the energy required to be active, mentally sharp, productive and energetic in life. Most of the foods available to us in our current environment are cheap, low quality and scientifically engineered to by-pass our bodies natural satiety cues that indicate when we have eaten enough. These food chemicals and additives trick the body into thinking it needs more and scientists have figured out exactly how to play around with these formulations of fats, sugars and salt to create the perfect sensations when eating to keep consumers coming back for more. Eighty percent of the food consumed should be all natural, whole food sources with little to no processing. This is an excellent way to make sure your body is getting the nutrients required, while still allowing some allowance for fun foods that we all enjoy in moderation.

This may be an easy one to overlook and discredit for having any real impact since virtually everyone has daily stressors, however, ignoring it and pushing on like it is not happening is a true recipe for turmoil and “dis”ease. Stress can come in a variety of forms; physical, mental, emotional, psychological, spiritual etc. When the body perceives stress is releases a hormone call cortisol. Cortisol is not always a bad thing. It can help trigger your body’s response to danger, increases body’s response to glucose, reduces inflammation and several other physiological processes. It should peak in the morning giving you that get up and go energy that helps you to feel energized and motivated for the day ahead, and should naturally decrease in the evening as you begin to wind down and prepare for sleep. However, if cortisol is chronically elevated because of poor stress management habits then this can really begin to cause some concerns for how the body will function. This can lead to high blood pressure, weight gain, chronic fatigue, irritability, mood swings, anxiety, depression, weakness, digestive problems, poor memory and concentration, unexplained muscle pain and more. High cortisol will impair your ability to fall asleep and obtain quality, restorative sleep which means you will wake up feeling tired, lethargic and unmotivated. Your blood sugars will be out of whack. Your ability to make good choices will be hampered. It will become a vicious cycle that will only become more difficult as these routines persist.

Things to do to manage stress are begin by identifying your stressors; whether that may be situations, interactions, specific people or environments, thoughts, feelings or actions you frequently experience, triggers to past traumas etc. This step is important so you can build awareness around these things and begin to establish habits, routines and coping mechanisms to that you can implement that bring you back to the moment so you can work through them in a controlled manner. Strategies such as journaling, deep breathing techniques, exercise, walking, meditation, self-care routines and therapy are all amazing ways to help identify, reconnect with your purpose and help navigate moments of challenge so you can regain control of your life and feel your best.