Coming down with an illness is the last thing someone wants to be added to their life. If we turn on the news, we get reminded of every last number and data point of how sick our world is. A Pickleball colleague and I were practicing at the pristine Yountville Pickleball courts the other day. The vineyard traced backdrop on the other side of the fence is enough to make anyone feel like they are on a blissful vacation. During our practice session, my partner asked me if we had seen our usual January burst of personal training inquiries eager to achieve their New Year’s fitness resolutions yet. I replied that our intake of the typical New Year’s surge of hungry exercise participants was less prominent than usual. When my partner asked why these numbers weren’t our usual influx of inquiries, I noted that one barring factor was that people did not want to get sick.
My partner added, “One would think a small gym setting with an appointment-only based system and only four people in the room would remedy the fear of coming down with something.” I added, “Unfortunately, as we have a high intake of inquiries, some people wanted to put their participation on hold even though we offer an exclusive and private one-on-one setting.”
In an era where being free of sickness is one of the most highlighted themes in our everyday lives, prevention and avoiding presentations of disease is one of the most powerful actions we can focus on to ensure our health. However, if we stay inside and lack the effort to initiate physical activity, the likelihood of sickness and many other suboptimal physical ailments get put on the table. Therefore, physical activity is one-hundred percent critical to living a healthy and disease-free life.
An adage my fourth-grade teacher told our class sticks with me. “If you drink enough water, wear the right clothes, eat the right foods, and stay clean, you won’t get sick.” By sticking to such simple guidelines set by a fourth-grade teacher, we have the potential to influence an active and disease-free life positively.
To put those fourth-grade lessons into action, here are a few guidelines that could help us stay away from sickness:
- Drink enough water: Our bodies depend on water for many functions. Optimal blood pressure, the transport of vital nutrients, and fueling the function of immune cells in our body are just a few components adequate hydration contributes to. Having a glass of water after each meal throughout the day is a simple and effective tactic to ensure our water concentration remains in an optimal state.
- Wear the right clothes: Is it cold in the morning? Then bundle up: wear a beanie, dress in layers, and make sure to stay dry. Fluctuations in our body temperature can put stress on our body and cause our immune system to act erratically. Also, we don’t want to get a head cold or introduce any other symptoms that give us headaches, runny noses, or fevers.
- Eat the right foods: Has anyone ever woken up with a headache? Perhaps from a few glasses of wine or one extra beer than you usually had last night? Another common symptom is feeling cloudy-headed or having an upset stomach in the morning after having too much pizza, chocolate, or ice cream the night before. If we can eliminate headaches, stomach aches, and the feeling of head fog in the morning, we won’t experience symptoms that make us feel like we’re coming down with the next cutting-edge virus.
- Stay clean: I’m sure we all know that going in and out of a gym can leave some amazing substances on our bodies clothing. Sweat, dust, and whatever other gym funk our imagination can muster up is no surprise. However, the substances present in a Yoga, Pilates, or a one-on-one personal training studio aren’t much different from the germs present at a restaurant, local bar, or grocery store. No matter the setting, ensure to wash your hands, wash your clothes, and take showers to disinfect our bodies. There may not be a perfect solution to avoid germs and viruses entirely. However, by emphasizing the cleanliness of our bodies, we can mitigate how severely icky germs and filth might affect our health.
Our society is in the sense of awareness of avoiding illness for obvious reasons. Even a human living under a rock would know the severity of the Corona Virus crisis. Data is at an all-time high of how a healthy diet, plenty of vitamin D, and a healthy and mobile body fend off the effects of illness. These essential facets of human health offer significantly more benefits than pills, medicine, or vaccines. We might need to roll the dice when we enter a local gym. Who knows, you might come down with something. However, a trip to the store, the gas station, or a restaurant isn’t much different in the exposure of what might get us sick. Our willpower and perseverance to make a trek to a local gym, take a Yoga class, or participate in outdoor physical activity are equally, if not more powerful, than any medicine that keeps us away from the doctor’s office.
Sean McCawley, the founder and owner of Napa Tenacious Fitness in Napa, CA, welcomes questions and comments. Reach him at 707-287-2727, napatenacious@gmail.com or visit the website napatenaciousfitness.com.
