Exercise and Immunity
With the recent and unprecedented outbreak of COVID-19, your approach to your health and fitness is more important than ever.
Whilst there are several contradicting beliefs between the direct link of exercise and immunity, the importance of a healthy lifestyle is widely accepted as an important way of protecting yourself against colds, viruses and other communicable diseases, of which exercise plays an important role.
So, what does a healthy lifestyle entail, and how can we make lifestyle changes to support our immune system?
Your trainer will have likely discussed the following points with you either during your goal sessions, nutrition sessions or even during your PT sessions, however the below list is a good resource to follow during this outbreak period.
- Eat a diet high in fruits and vegetables. Support your everyday health and wellbeing by eating a diet high in healthy fruits and vegetables.
- Exercise regularly. This can take many forms and not having a gym facility is no excuse to stop at the intensity you are accustomed to. At Vision we are working hard to continue delivering first class personal training whilst following State guidelines to prevent the spread of the virus. The expertise of your trainer is more crucial now than ever before. Make sure that you take advantage of our online personal training and group classes (contact us for more information!)
- Maintain a healthy weight. Make sure that you continue to weigh in regularly! Weighing in equals accountability, people often want to ensure they weigh in each week to ensure that their weekly habits are taking them closer to their goal. Many people have a personal trainer with a goal to lose weight or lose fat. Let's ensure that months, if not years of hard work to ensure we have embedded good habits don't slip away during isolation. Your trainer will remind you during your online sessions to check in on a weigh in, but make sure that you take responsibility yourself and ensure that you have all the necessary equipment, including scales and spare batteries for them.
- If you drink alcohol, drink only in moderation. Same rules as normal apply here! Take advantage of the fact that during this period of social distancing, some of your normal challenges regarding alcohol (including peer pressure or social drinking) now no longer exist! Use this time to cut back on your consumption, and make sure you have a plan when shopping to avoid buying excess alcohol that may become a temptation later on!
- Get adequate sleep. Working from home without set hours? An easy trap to fall into is losing your regular sleep cycle, staying up too late and then starting off slow the next morning, until suddenly it's the afternoon and you're still in your PJs!! Try to stick to a routine schedule, including bedtime and waking up. Start your day off as if you were going about your regular schedule - have a shower, go for a run, book in a video Personal Training session. You'll definitely notice an improvement in your energy levels if you put some planning in!
- Take steps to avoid infection, such as washing your hands frequently. This again also applies to everyday life, however pay extra attention during this pandemic. Make sure that you are regularly washing your hands and pay extra cleaning attention to any items that have public contact - including sanitising your hands after touching things like trolley handles, petrol pumps and EFTPOS machine buttons.
- Don't smoke. This is especially important during this outbreak as COVID-19 targets the respiratory system, and those with compromised lungs are more susceptible to developing a severe case if infected.
- Try to minimize stress. Easier said than done, right? It IS a stressful period at the moment, but by following good hygiene and abiding by government instruction regarding social distancing, we are all working together to try and minimise the impact on the entire community. Make sure to look after your mental health too! In order to take steps to improve this we should minimise toxins from high sugar, fat and alcohol. Ensure we have regular exercise. Ensure we have regular social connection (whilst allowing social distancing of course) and try to form some form of routine to have regularity in our day.
We hope these tips have helped! Remember, we are always here ready to chat and help out however we can. These are uncharted waters we are in, but we will get through it together!
*Disclaimer: Individual results vary based on agreed goals. Click here for details.
