How to Keep Your Body Healthy During Quarrantine
Five Tips to Stay Healthy
Your Health, Your Responsibility
Ultimately your health is completely your responsibility. Yes we want to get advice and help from doctors and professionals in various fields, but nobody can look after your body 24/7 like you can. You have to realize that everything you do in life from your work to how you interact with people is done with your body, and the health of your body will put a positive (or negative) filter on everything in your life. There is no going to the store to get a new body, just daily decisions that compound your body either in a negative way or positive way over time. Treat your body like your best friend, and don’t wait until your health is taken away for you to see that without good health nothing else really matters.
Input determines Output
Your body is a complex machine and everything that you put into your body is either helping it to operate efficiently or putting excessive strain on the system. Our bodies are extremely resilient but years and years of loading it with highly processed garbage will catch up to you in some way. Tracking everything that goes into your mouth for a full week to bring awareness and then a commitment to learning and making small adjustments is a good place to start. Don’t expect a high-quality output from your body if you are putting in low-quality low nutrient food.
Movement and Exercise
Not regularly exercising and getting your heart rate up can be detrimental on your cardiovascular system, lymphatic system, and neuromuscular system among others. We were made to move and you do not need a gym to do that. The trick for those who have had trouble in the past staying on an exercise routine is to find a type of movement that you enjoy doing for the sake of doing it and not just for the outcome. If you hate running, don’t make yourself go running. Search for an activity that you can get excited about. Some may find they love yoga, others a sport like tennis or swimming, or perhaps building strength is more important and you start doing progressive bodyweight training at home. Find something that you don’t have to make yourself go do, but you allow yourself to go do and your body will thank you in the long term.
Sleep Routines
We’ve all had a day where we did not get a good nights sleep and we feel like we are running at 60-70% capacity that day. Being tired with low energy puts a “filter” over your entire day, and its not a pretty filter. Nobody likes getting into bed and having millions of thoughts whirling around your head which is why its important to have an evening routine to wind down from the stimulation of the day. Winding down could include a shower/bath, stretching, journaling, or anything that’s not stimulating like scrolling through social media. Other tips include not eating within a few hours of going to bed, making sure your room is blacked out, having white noise or a fan to block out outside noise, and getting up at the same time every morning. For the mornings, most people employ the chemical approach to waking up which includes caffeine. I instead use a more physiological approach that includes 5-10 minutes of bouncing, exercising, and deep breathing to wake up my vascular, lymphatic, and nervous system after being dormant all night long.
Stillness
In times like this, many are stuck in a very sympathetic nervous system and anxious pattern. Constant thoughts tug at us and create emotions and habitual ways of being. Learning to be a master of your mind and not a slave to it is what stillness and meditation is about for me. Sitting in stillness watching your thoughts for only 10 minutes can be extremely difficult, but the clarity and calmness it can bring with practice is well worth the time investment. There are calming types like traditional meditation as well as more active types like bioenergetic breathing or the Wim Hof method that can be invigorating in the morning for those looking to curb their caffeine dependency. If you’ve never done any type of meditating I highly recommend watching some youtube videos or downloading some free apps and committing to a few minutes in the morning and again in the evening. It is an ancient Eastern practice that is now backed by Western science with a multitude of benefits that everybody has free access to. 
Clay Sandefur, LMT owns PainTruth Massage & Movement for Pain.
903-708-2016
Clay played tennis and graduated from the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith with a marketing degree. He then pursued his interest in health and fitness by attending The Center for Neurosomatic Studies in Clearwater, Florida which combines manual therapy, Posturology, and corrective exercises as a conservative treatment for chronic muscular pain. He has continued his education with various courses from The Gray Institute, Rocktape, and the Reembody Method. He currently sees patients in his office inside Northridge Country Club and also teaches tennis lessons.
