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Keeping your edge this winter with your Denver physical therapist
April 13, 2022
Athletes know that no matter the time of year, maintaining their fitness is crucial to being prepared for the next season. It takes a lot more than going to the gym and not skipping leg day to keep in shape! Here are some tips from your Denver physical therapist to staying fit as well as some services we offer to help you along the way!
Firstly, your body can only perform as well as what you put into it. The cliche “you are what you eat†is scarily accurate. This is because the body's natural systems function better when fed specific vitamins and minerals. For example: Vitamin A keeps vital organs working properly such as your heart, liver, and lungs and Vitamin C helps boost the immune system. While vitamin supplements are available, you lose out on the additional nutrients you’d receive from eating them in food form. The next time you’re compiling your grocery list, take a look at these important vitamins and minerals and what foods they reside within. Consider meal planning and add a few items into your cart to enrich your meals and body today.
Beyond the consumption of foods rich in vitamins and minerals, sleep is very important to overall health. Without a solid sleep schedule you can be left drained before the day has even begun. A report by the CDC, recommends 7 hours a night minimum for people aged 18 and up. Throughout these seven hours your body moves through four different stages of rest. The first and second stages are your body's way of entering and then settling into your sleep. These first two stages usually last about 30 minutes total followed by the third stage of NREM or, non rapid eye movement. This third stage is where you experience your deepest sleep. Your body starts to physically repair itself as your blood pressure drops and breathing slows. This is the sleep we are trying to achieve for our body's sake. When it comes to dreams, they are present in the last stage, when you enter REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Here the body is completely relaxed while the brain awakens thus leading to dreams. These stages repeat throughout your sleep until you eventually awaken, usually, refreshed.
When your body is well nourished and reseted it is much easier to engage in any day to day activity. Doing workouts feels easier as your muscles are more equipped to deal with the strain put upon them. One last great way your Denver physical therapist recommends to maintain your fitness is to engage in low impact activities such as swimming or yoga. This helps you balance out more strenuous engagements by realigning and recuperating your body.Â
Here at PEAK Physical Therapy, beyond recommending activities best suited for your fitness maintenance needs, we look at and use both FMS (Flexible Manufacturing System) and SFMA’s (Selective Functional Movement Assessment). These help inform our physical therapist on how to best help shield your body from potential damaged joints and muscles. Contact us today here to get into one of our clinics; whether looking to begin your fitness journey or maintain it, we have got you covered!
Firstly, your body can only perform as well as what you put into it. The cliche “you are what you eat†is scarily accurate. This is because the body's natural systems function better when fed specific vitamins and minerals. For example: Vitamin A keeps vital organs working properly such as your heart, liver, and lungs and Vitamin C helps boost the immune system. While vitamin supplements are available, you lose out on the additional nutrients you’d receive from eating them in food form. The next time you’re compiling your grocery list, take a look at these important vitamins and minerals and what foods they reside within. Consider meal planning and add a few items into your cart to enrich your meals and body today.
Beyond the consumption of foods rich in vitamins and minerals, sleep is very important to overall health. Without a solid sleep schedule you can be left drained before the day has even begun. A report by the CDC, recommends 7 hours a night minimum for people aged 18 and up. Throughout these seven hours your body moves through four different stages of rest. The first and second stages are your body's way of entering and then settling into your sleep. These first two stages usually last about 30 minutes total followed by the third stage of NREM or, non rapid eye movement. This third stage is where you experience your deepest sleep. Your body starts to physically repair itself as your blood pressure drops and breathing slows. This is the sleep we are trying to achieve for our body's sake. When it comes to dreams, they are present in the last stage, when you enter REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Here the body is completely relaxed while the brain awakens thus leading to dreams. These stages repeat throughout your sleep until you eventually awaken, usually, refreshed.
When your body is well nourished and reseted it is much easier to engage in any day to day activity. Doing workouts feels easier as your muscles are more equipped to deal with the strain put upon them. One last great way your Denver physical therapist recommends to maintain your fitness is to engage in low impact activities such as swimming or yoga. This helps you balance out more strenuous engagements by realigning and recuperating your body.Â
Here at PEAK Physical Therapy, beyond recommending activities best suited for your fitness maintenance needs, we look at and use both FMS (Flexible Manufacturing System) and SFMA’s (Selective Functional Movement Assessment). These help inform our physical therapist on how to best help shield your body from potential damaged joints and muscles. Contact us today here to get into one of our clinics; whether looking to begin your fitness journey or maintain it, we have got you covered!