Living a Healthy Lifestyle

Spring is finally here in the Magic Valley, which means your cabin fever is finally over and you are looking for ways to spend your time outside or looking for new sports activities to get involved in. You may be a little worried as you may have decided to take a sabatical during winter and hibernate without exercise but you are ready to kick it into gear. 

A recent study from the Journal of Sport & Exercise Medicine from 2019, reports data given from 49 studies showing that over a the transition of adolescence to adulthood, physical activity has been declining by "5.2 min per day"! This decline in physical activity was more prevalent in males more than females and data shows this decline getting larger each year! 

A few reasons as to why lifestyles are becoming increasingly sedentary could be because there are more sedentary occupations or hobbies, technological advances, automobile usage, or simply just wanting to binge watch the latest original series in place of physical activity.

How are you going to beat the statistic this spring? Here are a few tips to help your transition from "Cabin Fever" to becoming physically fit, whether you are wanting get back into your morning walk routine, gardening, spring softball, or training for the next marathon. 

PREPARE

You know warm weather is coming, you want to be active but instead of going straight into a 5k, get up and start moving before, be consistent prior to hitting the pavement so quickly. Try to keep a balanced schedule and tailor the frequency of physical activity. If you know you have a soccer game coming up, instead of waiting till game day, take 3-4 weeks to prepare with 30-45 min of physical activity per day. 

EASE INTO IT

In today's society, we live in instant gratification mode where we want to see results immediately and you may not want to ease into it rather than over do it. Warming up should be according to the activity you will be participating in, for example, if you have a softball/baseball game, focus on the lower and upper body, jogging, arm circles, jumping jacks. Going back to the basics such as a light jog or brisk walk is a good warm up for most activities. If you are out gardening, take breaks and slow down for 5 minutes to get a drink of water and stretch as you have been bending and twisting and lifting adding extra stresses on your body. 

COOL DOWN PERIOD

Cooling down after an exercise doesn't mean sticking your head in a freezer, it means slowing down after a game, practice, or any type of physical activity. A cool down period of 5-10 minutes is essential to reduce delayed onset muscle soreness or "DOMS" which results in micro tears in the muscle as a consequence of unaccustomed activty and will generally go away within 24 hours but can last for days. A cool down period will also reduce the amount of lactic acid that causes sore musces and helps lower a raised heart rate to a safe level allowing your body to simply "unwind" after an exercise. 

GET ADJUSTED

There is a reason as to why professional athletes have been treated by chiropractors or have them on staff to have access to adjustements, exercises, a muscle work effective for treating pain and improving function. Chiropractic adjustments as well has therapeutic modalities offered at Blue Lakes Clinics will allow you to get back to doing what you love. Visit your Twin Falls chiropractors, Dr. Wray and Dr. Arrington. They will tailor treatment to each individual to fit your needs, and "Help YOU get BACK to being YOU!".

Reference:

Corder K, Winpenny E, Love R, et al
Change in physical activity from adolescence to early adulthood: a systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal cohort studies
Br J Sports Med 2019;53:496-503.