When it comes to your health, stress is both the hero and the villain. Acute stress helps us to respond to immediate danger, however chronic stress inhibits your body’s ability to perform.
But how do you make sure your body is getting the right amount of stress?
By Greg Starks
Exercise is a necessary source of stress in order to get stronger, fitter or leaner. However exercise can soon become the villain if your body is not given an environment through which it is allowed to adapt and compensate. If we do not allow our bodies the opportunity to recover sufficiently, we put ourselves at a great risk of over training or burnout. This state will decrease immune function leaving you susceptible to illness, increase muscle tension leading to a high probability of injury and an increase in cortisol slowing fat metabolism and brain function.
For instance you have important deadline coming for work you are getting 4-5 hours of sleep a night, you are skipping meals because you are too busy to eat and your muscles are feeling tense and tight from the stress and long periods of sitting. The absolute worse thing you can do is to put your body through more stress by completing a demanding workout.
There are many measures used to assess an individual’s levels of stress and readiness for exercise but they all take into account three key areas:
1. Lifestyle (Diet,Sleep,DemandingDay)
2. Physical (Pain,Tired,Tightness,Soreness,Sick)
3. Emotional (Mood,Motivation,Energy)
HOW READY ARE YOU TODAY?
Rank yourself on the 3 areas above on a scale of 1 (poor), 2 (average) and 3 (excellent).
An overall score of 7-9: You’re ready to move. Your body is craving a challenge. You are in a perfect homeostatic state to take on anything thrown to you. Push yourself to the limit!
An overall score of 5-6: You are beginning to show signs of burnout. This might be a good opportunity to keep it short and ease back on intensity, before you get injured or sick. Activities such as walking, yoga or swimming are great ways to encourage your body to speed up its recovery. Also don’t forget you are what you eat so don’t be easy, cheap or fake.
An overall score of 3-4: Your body is struggling, you are stressed and on the verge of breakdown. Have the day off training and allow your body to regenerate. Breathe deeply, eat well and get some quality sleep.
By Greg Stark, Founder and Director of Better Being www.betterbeing.com.au
