Archives for September 2021

Practising self-care can make a real difference, helping you to become more confident and resilient as well as boosting your emotional wellbeing and physical health. And it doesn’t need to be complicated as just a few simple changes to your everyday life can reap rewards.

To help you get started, we’ve compiled our guide to four of the most effective ways to look after yourself.

1. Eat well, keep hydrated 

Regular meals, healthy snacks, and plenty of fluids – ideally around two litres a day – are key to looking after yourself and keeping your mind and body healthy and happy. Ensure your diet is nutritionally balanced and contains a wide range of fresh fruit and vegetables, wholegrains, omega oils and quality, lean protein. You can also choose to give your diet extra support with a broad-spectrum multivitamin supplement to ensure you are getting the right amount of the vitamins and minerals you need.

And don’t neglect your gut – as your digestive health can also have a significant impact on your overall health and wellbeing. So, as well as eating gut friendly foods, adding turmeric, which supports healthy digestion, is another good way to take care of your health.

2. Keep active

Keeping active is another effective way to look after yourself as well as boost your mood. And it doesn’t have to be intense – an hour of moderate exercise three times a week is enough to make a difference to both your short and long-term health. And if you can make time to exercise outside, even better! Spending time outside helps you to boost your natural levels of vitamin D, which is needed to support a healthy heart and muscles as well as to strengthen your immune system (EFSA, 2010).

Whatever form of exercise you prefer, it should be sufficient to raise your heart rate and get you slightly out of breath. Couple cardio or aerobic exercise with strengthening exercises and body stretching such as yoga, and you will be getting the ideal mind-body workout to combat stress, while boosting your health, energy, and overall well being.

3. Get enough sleep

As well as eating well and keeping active, you also need to ensure your body has time to rest, regenerate and heal. And this means getting enough quality sleep to enable your body to look after itself. Between seven and eight hours of sleep per night is considered the optimum.

Creating the right bedroom environment, maintaining the room’s temperature, and aiming to go to bed as well as wake up at the same time will mean you wake refreshed and revitalised. If you do need a little additional support to help you through periods of temporary tiredness and fatigue, iron tablets can also be beneficial.

4. Make time for yourself

In our busy worlds, it is important to make some quality time for ourselves, so we can decompress, relax, and unwind. And whether it is a hot bath before bedtime, 15 minutes spent meditating before everyone else gets up in the morning, mindfully listening to music, sitting in your garden, or losing yourself in a good book, simple stress-busting activities can help keep everything in perspective.

And that, along with our other three top tips to look after yourself, is ultimately good for your physical and emotional health and wellbeing.

 

While the 2020 Olympics seemed slightly different because of the global pandemic, COVID-19, everyone witnessed the world’s class athletes and their incredible performance.

So what made these teams and people perform at such a high level?

According to experts, athletes have a routine that narrows down to psychology, nutrition, and coaching. To help you also be a successful athlete in the future, you must adopt the following routines:

Avoid Training Too Much

Taking enough is as vital as building endurance and strength. You can’t get stronger by just training hard constantly. Basically, you can build fitness by alternating your workouts with recovery. A perfect way to prevent overtraining is to pay attention to how your body feels.

If your heartbeat remains elevated even after a night’s rest or your legs feel heavy, make sure you take enough rest. For athletes training all year round, it would be wise to take some time off after two months. This will also be a perfect time to change up your normal routine.

Balance the Essential Nutrients Properly

The major energy-yielding nutrients include fats, carbohydrates, and proteins. All these nutrients are important for achieving top training performance, though in different amounts.

Depending on the sport you participate in, taking beta-alanine supplements and foodstuffs containing these three nutrients is the best way to get the energy you need.

Everyone’s body works differently, and all athletes need a different type of endurance, muscular strength, and energy. Be sure to get the fix, which works for your sport and body.

Get New Motivations

When making your athletic performance better is no longer your motivation for exercise, it is vital to look for another motivation.

Every athlete is created differently, so find something beyond sports performance to ensure regular exercise throughout. New motivators will help you:

• Enjoy a higher energy level
• Maintain healthy weight
• Improve sleep pattern
• Manage stress
• Prevent chronic diseases

Establish a Recovery Plan

One thing people often see in many recreational athletes is that they only push themselves to the sport and are hesitant to have a good workout plan.

While weekend warriors play sports to be in shape, experts get in shape so as to take part in athletes and are afraid of losing progress if they choose to slow down.

Resting doesn’t necessarily mean you sit down on your couch. It only means that you allow your body to recover from the hard work and effort you have been putting in.

Work with a Weekly Schedule

Finding time to train usually narrows down to time management. Many people may carve out 45 minutes of their time and go for a focused run session.

Working with a specific weekly schedule and being disciplined to stick to it will ensure you remain on track, even when you are not in the mood. Plus, maintaining the consistency of your training throughout the weeks will be an effective way to be a successful athlete.

Closing Remarks!

Because of coronavirus, the life you used to know has totally changed. The fitness and sports world is among the many areas, which have witnessed significant interruptions and changes.

However, regardless of the global pandemic, you can still maintain and improve your athletic performance with the help of these routines.