So 2023, a new year is upon us.  Christmas has come and gone and inevitably most of us have eaten and drunk far too much.  As an Osteopath this time of year we hear many patients express the desire to get fitter in the New Year.  January is often the month of new gym subscriptions up and down the country.  However this desire to get fit often results in sore bodies or in a worse case scenario, horrible coughs and colds. 

Why does this happen?  Exercise can be a stress to our system particularly if we have been eating a high sugar diet as we often do around the Christmas period.  An excessive amount of sugar has been show to produce pro-inflammatory cytokines (signaling molecules that regulate and mediate immunity and inflammation (1)).  So we have a time of the year where respiratory virus’s are at a high, where we have been suppressing our immune system and a body that has not been used to exercising. 

Recommendations for a healthy return to the gym.

1. Consider how much physical exercise you have been doing recently. If you walk regularly and can walk briskly without feeling out of breath, or your job is semi active you may have an underlying level of reasonable fitness so you can start with reasonably demanding fitness training.  If however you have a very sedentary job have been sitting around a lot at Christmas and feel a bit out of puff walking up stairs or walking briskly you may want to start with just walking on a treadmill or using an exercise bike.  Considering duration: you may only want to start with 20 minutes and over a few weeks increase the duration by 5 minutes each session.  If you have been training but have not trained for a few months, reduce the duration or intensity by 50% initially and build this up over a few weeks. 
2. Eat well: 5-7 portions of vegetables and fruit a day, good protein and non refined foods.
3. Sleep well – catch up on sleep if needed by having a few early nights.
4. How does your body feel? If you have some aches and pains consult an Osteopath so get you ready so that mechanically you can be in the best shape to get back in the gym.
5. Initially spend more time at the end of the work out stretching those muscles and joints. (Next blog will be about stretching).

Exercise has so many benefits to our body both biochemically, physically and emotionally so enjoy getting fitter, however listen to your body and give it time to adapt and treat it well with what you eat and drink and the rest you give it!

Thank you for read our article on “Taking Care Of Your body” we hope you enjoyed it.

Please feel free to contact a member of our team for more advise. You can also keep up to date with us via our Facebook page.