StrongerLife Show 6: How Can I Maintain My Health and Independence?

Let’s address a question that many of our new members have had. “How can I maintain my health and independence for the long haul, for many, many, many years to come?” That is a great question! There's some very interesting research coming out, looking at the characteristics of individuals that are not only able to live for a long time but also maintain their health for a long period of time? The great news is there are definitely some things that we can all do. You have the ability to make decisions now that are going to dramatically influence your health and independence in the future!

Fitness Capacity

So, what are some of those things? The first thing that we really need to speak to is your fitness capacity, or being ‘in shape.’ In particular, being strong is the number one thing you can do right now that will pay dividends for many years to come. There have been some interesting developments in research looking at individuals who maintain their independence for a longer period of time. One of the most consistent characteristics is that these people are STRONG. Stronger people are able to maintain their independence, experience fewer chronic diseases, and are less likely to get cancer. In addition, many different kinds of chronic conditions that are familiar to our society are not experienced by individuals who prioritize strength and fitness as they age.

There’s a popular phrase in the strength and conditioning world by Mark Rippetoe— “Stronger people are harder to kill.” The more strength that we build, the more of a buffer that we're going to have against different types of health conditions ad any type of physical decline. Now let’s not ignore the importance of endurance, and aerobic training, which most people tend to focus more on than strength. And that's why at Stronger Life, a lot of our classes combine endurance with strength-specific components.

Sleep

The second key to maintaining your health and independence is sleep, sleep, and more sleep. So, many of you may be thinking, “Oh my gosh, I'm screwed. I'm only getting 5-6 hours of sleep a night'“ or perhaps you don’t sleep well. Sleep allows your body the ability to recover from the day’s stressors. Not only is the quantity of sleep important, but the quality of the sleep as well. How much deep sleep are you getting? Are you getting disturbed a lot through the night? How many solid, high-quality stretches of sleep are you getting? 

Now, many of you may think, “How in the world am I going to know this?” Luckily, there are a lot of great wearable health trackers out there. Try a WHOOP band, Oura ring, even an Apple watch to track different health metrics like sleep, heart rate, etc. This is a great place to start in order to build awareness around your patterns. Next you can try to change different things to see if that influences your sleep. Whether it's getting blackout curtains, turning the temperature down, or using white noise. Sleep is a consistent factor for those who maintain their health for a long period of time. 

Nutrition

Last but not least, we really want to address the importance of nutrition. Nutrition is becoming more and more of a buzzword in the health and wellness arena. You'll get lots of conflicting reports on what's the best way to eat, what voids to make sure you get, what foods you should eat, and which to avoid. We highly encourage you to check out our episode on what you should eat before after a workout. Some of the guidelines and recommendations that coach Amy provided in that video are going to be very, very helpful.

So, those are the big three components that we focus on at Stronger Life. Physical activity with an emphasis on strength training. Tracking our sleep with the ability to manipulate different variables to improve the quality and quantity of our sleep. And lastly, nutrition. What kind of fuel are we giving our bodies? We want to be very thoughtful regarding how much food and the types of food we eat.

Got Questions? We’ve got answers! If you have ANY questions about how many days you should workout, sleep, or nutrition, fill out the form below and we’d love to chat!