4 Ways To Maximize Your Health

We know the title sounds like clickbait, but we assure you that it is genuine. We aren’t here to sell you on a quick fix. We aren’t here to pitch a single product, oil, supplement, or tool to solve all of life’s physical ailment issues. In fact, we’re here to tell you the opposite. It needs to be understood that anything that demands a high return on investment, such as our health, will require time, patience, and attention to detail. So without further ado, let’s go down the list of things that actually make a significant impact in our overall health outcomes. 

Exercise

This is the obvious one. There are few, if any, reasons to ever not exercise. It’s unfortunate that a lot of healthcare providers do a disservice to their patients by telling them to limit exercise in the presence of pain or any other health-related concern when the data is fairly robust in suggesting that the addition of exercise is very effective in reducing all-cause mortality. Trade offs exist in everything and it’s important to acknowledge them. For example, the time that it takes to exercise vs. time spent doing other important things or the potential for “overdoing it a little” vs. the growing health concerns by neglecting exercise. 

Sure, exercise can be uncomfortable and inconvenient at first, but if your goal is to lose weight, gain strength, improve mental health, or reduce injury risk then increasing your exercise dosage incrementally over time will serve you well. Nothing improves physical capacity like well designed physical training. 

From an overall health perspective exercise we would go so far as to say it’s an absolute must as there are zero downsides in our opinion to increasing one’s muscle tissue and cardiovascular capacity. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that adults participate in a minimum of 30-60 minutes of moderate intensity activity 5 days per week or 20-60 minutes of vigorous physical activity 3 days per week. While this may sound daunting logistically, we would take no issue with someone doing multiple bouts of exercise in one day so long as total volume of physical activity per week is achieved. 

Nutrition

If you’ve been following us for any length of time now then you’re probably aware that we don’t believe that there are good vs. bad foods so it would make sense that we also do not believe that any particular diet is superior to another on a macro level. We do, however, believe in the individual differences within all of us that make particular foods and diets more suitable for us to fulfill our needs and achieve our goals. So whether you choose to be gluten free, paleo, keto, or participate in intermittent fasting the most important thing to remember is that food is your fuel. The big picture should be to:

1. Consume adequate protein 

2. Regulate overall caloric intake based on goals

3. Consume sufficient daily fiber 

Even as a physical therapy company we believe that nutrition is such an integral part of a person’s health and recovery that we brought a registered dietitian on board to work with our patients who need the additional support whether that be to achieve performance related goals or optimize recovery from an injury sustained from insufficient recovery. 

We encourage you to submit an inquiry if a nutrition consultation is the missing link to take you to the next step of health and recovery. 

Sleep

We live in a society that wears a lack of sleep as a badge of honor as if being underslept is indicative of greater success. And while everyone has their own unique challenges with achieving adequate rest, the truth is that being consistently underslept is robbing us of achieving the health and performance we desire. 

While most people need to start with increasing sleep quantity, the next step is finding ways to improve sleep quality. Sleep quality refers to how easily and how often we fall into the deeper stages of sleep where recovery of the nervous and musculoskeletal systems are optimized. Clearly the sleep category is one that most people now recognize as something to be addressed. This is evident in the sheer volume of products that exist all marketed to help you improve your sleep from watches, to noise machines, to bedside sleep cycle trackers, to CBD products. The unfortunate reality is that none of these items have strong clinical data to support their efficacy. So while you may experience some temporary, personal effects, it is unlikely that these results will have sustained benefits in isolated situations. 

When determining action steps for improving both sleep quantity and sleep quality one should consider the following:

1. Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep per night. This is a general range that seems to benefit the most people. There are people that do require more than 9 hours of sleep depending on life demands.

2. Try to keep sleep schedules consistent. Not everyone’s circadian rhythms prioritize sleep at the same time - some people’s clocks require earlier bedtimes and some people function very well beginning their bedtimes after midnight.

3. Limit water intake a few hours before bed. 

4. Reduce stimulation an hour before bedtime. Shut off screens, begin a “wind down” routine, decrease stimulating noise, and aim for a temperature between 69-72 degrees Fahrenheit.

Stress Management

Of the 4 categories, stress management is often the one that is most overlooked and possibly the most challenging to control. That’s because we typically do not realize that we are under significant stress until it is too late and much of the stress in our lives is out of our control. But stress occurs on a daily basis whether we acknowledge it or not. 

The most common misconception about stress management is that successful stress management involves avoidance of the stressful stimuli. Instead, we would argue that successful stress management makes a conscious effort to engage in activities that recharge the individual while still acknowledging the presence of stress. Some examples may include:

1. Journaling - a daily gratitude journal or regular reflections on life events can help provide a perspective shift.

2. Hobbies - Channeling energy into activities that are personal, life-giving, and challenging can help provide a mental break from any negativity that is looming from stress.

3. Exercise - Exercise has been shown to reduce negative thoughts and help combat depressive moods.

4. Sleep - Sleep deprivation does not allow the brain and body to recover adequately from the stresses of the day whether they be physical or psychological.

Don’t think about making waves when all you need is a ripple

It’s important to remember that you likely do not need to revolutionize your entire life and all of your daily routines to find significant benefits to your overall health. Oftentimes just changing one or two little habits (go to bed 1 hour earlier, replace one snack with fruit, etc) will allow time for new routines to become regular habits. As momentum builds in your efforts you will find that the little things have all added up to big results. 

The most challenging part of all this is just getting started. If this resonates with you then we would encourage you to schedule a conversation with a physical therapist or dietitian to discuss how we can help you improve your health and recovery.