- How the current situation presents an opportunity to develop positive habits, including improving sleep quality, exploring new home workout methods, and planning healthier meals with the help of apps like MyFitnessPal.
- How to utilize this time to prioritize and achieve personal goals while staying active and maintaining a nutritious diet.
- How Myokinetix offers free consultations for those dealing with physical discomfort, encouraging individuals to unlock their potential and seek guidance during this time.
Over the past month, there have been some pretty dramatic changes to our everyday lives. The stores, restaurants, and things we take for granted are no longer accepting customers. Many people are working from home or are temporarily unemployed. Even though these are dire times it is vital to seek the opportunity in the situations life throws at us. Since many of us are quarantined at home it’s time to start forming some habits that will last well after this quarantine is over.
This doesn’t mean staying up until 1 am and sleeping until noon since there’s no work in the morning. As a society, we are chronically sleep-deprived and this can significantly affect our overall health and productivity levels. Achieving the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep can also improve immune function! A few tips to facilitate good sleep habits is to set an alarm to tell you it’s time to get in bed. This should be set one hour before you plan to fall asleep to get the body prepared for the night. All technology should be turned off and a habit such as reading with a book light can facilitate the body to fall asleep at the scheduled time. The body also is able to fall asleep easier if the temperature in the house is cooler, this is different for everyone but around 67 deg F may help sleep come with more ease. Taking a hot bath before bed can also help with falling asleep. The goal is to fall asleep at a time when you are able to wake up without an alarm while achieving the recommended hours of sleep. This may take some practice but might as well take advantage of this situation. I personally have a “just in case” alarm set for the latest I am able to wake up. I rarely use it but at least it will put your mind at ease to make sure you don’t oversleep.
This is going to look different for everyone and the gym rats without access to a bench may be freaking out but this is an opportunity to explore new methods of training. For the amateur, just get moving! Whether it be going for a walk 30min a day or YouTubing a home workout, just get it started. Pick a time that you plan to train and stick to it! Make it part of your schedule and make it a priority. For the gym rats who are going to lose it when they can’t bench this Monday, let’s try and use some training methods that you have not done before. Bodyweight workouts can be very humbling. Perform a few slow controlled single-leg squats or some single-arm push-ups and the majority of you will be significantly challenged by these activities. Dabbling in a yoga workout or a video HIIT workout at home to keep moving will more than likely also show some deficits you have in your training regimen so you will come out of this stronger and more agile than the pre-pandemic you. Hopefully ready for the zombie apocalypse. If you want to check out some exercises, check out our YouTube channel!
Many of us are going to come out of this as chefs or binge drinkers and I’ll have to recommend the former. Everyone always says they’re going to start dieting but always make up an excuse as to why they aren’t doing it. The time for excuses is over so start planning your meals for the week. For those of you who don’t know where to start, I recommend a free app called MyFitnessPal. Basically, this app will allow you to log everything you eat as well as track calories and macronutrients (carbs, fat, and proteins). With this app, you can at least get an idea of what you are eating and begin to adjust accordingly. For specific nutrition advice you would need to consult a nutritionist but just knowing what you are putting in your body is a step in the right direction. Let’s combine this with exercise and have you perform 10 squats every time you open the fridge, this may curb your snacking a bit.
Whatever your goals may be, always look for an opportunity to achieve them and put your plans in motion. Feel free to reach out to us here to get you started on the path to unlocking your potential.
P.S. We are offering FREE 30 Minutes in-person/online visit for any new patient that is dealing with some nagging PAIN. Just because you are stuck at home, that doesn’t mean you should be in pain as well =) call us at 973-585-4990 email : info@myokinetix.com