Drinking Alcohol Before Bed Can Ruin Sleep Quality
drinking alcohol before bed can ruin sleep quality
Rest, recovery and injury prevention
One month into the New Year and our exercise resolutions for 2012 are well under way. Or are they?
Each year many of these promises to ourselves get broken; we fly headlong along the path to our brand new selves without sparing a thought for our well-being. Whatever exercise you do, the body sustains damage which it then needs to repair. To help you continue your path to fitness here are a few tips to prevent injury and assist with your health, well-being and proper recovery.
TRAINING
When youre training it is important that your routine allows time for adequate adaptation and rest. There is no point completing intense training sessions 6 days a week for months on end when youve not been exercising before this will stress the nervous system, the muscles, and the mind, and your body will not thank you for it. Start off slowly, build up your exercise tolerance and allow your body time to adapt to the new load youre placing upon it. Keep your routines fresh and interesting; change the exercises, alter the type of exercise you do, do more reps or add in something like interval training. By doing this you will help to prevent your body adapting to your training by keeping it guessing as to what comes next. Your mind will stay fresh, your body will recover, and ultimately your gains in strength and fitness will be greater.
POST EXERCISE RECOVERY
Active recovery refers to the exercise that is done after an exercise session. This can be the cool down immediately after, or can imply lighter exercise sessions in the day or two following. This is important and is said to be beneficial for your bodys performance and abilities leading up to the next session. Movement will stimulate fresh blood flow which brings a whole host of nutrients and recovery agents to help with repair.
SLEEP
This is another big part of rest and recovery. In general, missing one or two good nights sleep wont have too much impact on your performance. However when youre asleep is a key time for several processes to occur, such as the production and release of different hormones which will stimulate repair. It is an anabolic state, so will also stimulate muscle growth. Deep and restful sleep will help to rejuvenate the nervous system, the immune system, and the skeletal and muscular systems and refresh the mind, which willultimately lead to improved performance and lower risk of sustaining injuries. As if injury prevention wasnt enough to persuade you to hit the pillow earlier, research also shows that those with lack of sleep have a higher risk of weight gain, high blood pressure and type II diabetes. To ensure your 7-8 hours of sleep is achieved it is helpful to avoid alcohol, caffeine and tobacco before bed.
NUTRITION
It goes without saying that you are what you eat. If youre making the effort with your exercise and your sleep, why not give your body the fuel it requires? Food is the building
block for your cells; whole foods will contain much more nutritional benefit than theprocessed foods our fast paced lifestyles demand. Make time to prepare your food withsufficient variety and quality that you can gain all your vitamin and mineral requirements. Ifmuscle growth is your aim, take in enough quality calories; if weight loss is the plan then do it safely and steadily eat enough, eat clean, and factor in the exercise to achieve your calorie deficit. Fruit, vegetables, healthy fats; whole food really is one of the most important targets for those who are serious about improving their recovery and preventing injury. Would you put standard petrol in your Ferrari or A grade quality? Your body is a machine which requires high quality fuel to thrive.
MASSAGE
If you have a niggling injury, a tight hamstring, or are feeling stressed and tense massage could be your answer. This is not something that youll need every day, but those troublesome sore points could benefit from a weekly deeptissue massage to break down the tight tissue, or a relaxing Swedish massage may help relax you and reduce tension. Cortisol is a hormone which is released in times of stress and too much has a detrimental effect on recovery and repair, so next time youre feeling hassled or tight booking in for a massage might be your answer.
BIOMECHANICS AND SCREENINGS
Is a recurring injury preventing you reaching your potential? Have you taken up a new exercise and found that its making you worse? If so you could be in need of a biomechanical assessment. This is something that may help to pinpoint problems within your technique that can cause issues with your fitness. Using video analysis the patterns can be broken down to highlight any improvements that can be made, and under qualified guidance corrective measures can be prescribed to improve your bodys mechanics, resulting in more efficient injury prevention and enhanced recovery.
THE FINAL WORD
When building a house, taking the time to put the foundations in place first will result in a far stronger structure than diving straight in and putting up a wall. Ultimately your body is the house that will look after you when the storm hits, and the foundations need to be in place to ensure youre adequately prepared. If you need any further information or guidance on anything contained within this article then dont hesitate to ask a professional. Keep on with those resolutions and enjoy a fitter 2012!
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