Back to routine… lifestyle and diet in autumn.
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Back to routine… lifestyle and diet in autumn.
After the summer it is time to get going again. Our children's school and after-school activities are back in full swing after the long summer break. Adults return to their daily routine of work, family commitments and tight schedules. Most of us, young and old, then add a good dose of physical activity to all this which, while helping to achieve good general health, risks increasing tiredness and perceived fatigue over the course of the day.
At this time of year, in autumn, our body is under an extraordinary and particular level of strain, different from the tiredness felt in spring or the draining weakness of summer. In autumn we are all driven by a physiological need for action, for activity, for getting back into the sometimes frantic rhythms that are now part of our daily lives. Add to this constantly changing climate and weather conditions, with temperatures rising and falling suddenly, damp days and windy, often cold days, quickly alternating with warmer days, the very last of the fine season. The cold months ahead then stimulate many of our body's internal systems to respond appropriately to the clock change and to the shorter daylight hours and lower temperatures.
Each of us responds to all this in our own way. It is not unusual to come across people whose mood and fitness go up and down, and who have a weakened immune system, broken sleep, digestive problems, hair loss and much more.
So what should we do? The simplest answer, as always, is the best: rest, eating well and the right amount of physical activity. Obvious but effective.
Resting for the right number of hours each day is the condition without which our body could not regenerate properly, bring activity levels down to a minimum and then start again with even more energy. The strong runners of the African highlands know this very well, for example: to be able to train twice a day and cover more than 200km a week in preparation for a marathon, they sleep at least 8 hours a night and never skip an afternoon nap of at least an hour in their routine. Of course, as professional athletes, their days are necessarily organised around this. But we too, in our own small way, could certainly try to imitate them, perhaps by switching off the TV a little earlier in the evening or treating ourselves to a short 20-minute break in the early afternoon to close our eyes and relax, even if we cannot actually manage a few minutes' extra sleep.
In autumn, diet and healthy eating have an even more beneficial effect than usual. Foods rich in fat and refined flours, or highly processed foods, do not help digestion and limit the intake of important micronutrients. All vitamin complexes are in fact involved in the optimal maintenance of the antioxidant and restorative processes on which the health of our immune defences, our recovery from stress, and the health of our joints, skin and hair depend. Not to mention the effect heavy meals can have on those who usually suffer from the classic seasonal discomfort of gastro-oesophageal reflux: in this case, paying attention to food quality, portion size, chewing time and speed of swallowing is a must. Here too, elite athletes are a formidable example: there is no professional sports team that does not devote the right amount of time to every meal, always a good number of hours away from exercise to make digestion easier, with a good mix of easily digestible foods "before" and foods richer in protein, vegetables and fruit "after", always keeping a good balance of macronutrients.
And what about exercise? Doing sport in these months keeps us from slipping into a lethargic state from which it would then be hard to recover. Continuing to train even on less regular days can help the difficult moments pass more quickly. If necessary, it is better to do gentle or low-intensity sessions than to decide to stop altogether. If, on the other hand, there are no contraindications, try pushing harder in some sessions and giving your whole body a bigger boost, or try reducing the overall length of your sessions while increasing the intensity of the work. A steady, targeted and proportionate training stimulus helps to maintain the health of our defences and prepares our whole body to face the difficult winter months as well as possible, ready and trained to cope with the challenges that may arise in the cold season.
A tip on supplementation?!? Courses of vitamin C at medium-high doses, complete multivitamins to take daily and the help of quality protein supplements that are easy to digest and well balanced, in handy bars or as a powder to mix. Simple, right?
After the summer it is time to get going again. Our children's school and after-school activities are back in full swing after the long summer break. Adults return to their daily routine of work, family commitments and tight schedules. Most of us, young and old, then add a good dose of physical activity to all this which, while helping to achieve good general health, risks increasing tiredness and perceived fatigue over the course of the day.
At this time of year, in autumn, our body is under an extraordinary and particular level of strain, different from the tiredness felt in spring or the draining weakness of summer. In autumn we are all driven by a physiological need for action, for activity, for getting back into the sometimes frantic rhythms that are now part of our daily lives. Add to this constantly changing climate and weather conditions, with temperatures rising and falling suddenly, damp days and windy, often cold days, quickly alternating with warmer days, the very last of the fine season. The cold months ahead then stimulate many of our body's internal systems to respond appropriately to the clock change and to the shorter daylight hours and lower temperatures.
Each of us responds to all this in our own way. It is not unusual to come across people whose mood and fitness go up and down, and who have a weakened immune system, broken sleep, digestive problems, hair loss and much more.
So what should we do? The simplest answer, as always, is the best: rest, eating well and the right amount of physical activity. Obvious but effective.
Resting for the right number of hours each day is the condition without which our body could not regenerate properly, bring activity levels down to a minimum and then start again with even more energy. The strong runners of the African highlands know this very well, for example: to be able to train twice a day and cover more than 200km a week in preparation for a marathon, they sleep at least 8 hours a night and never skip an afternoon nap of at least an hour in their routine. Of course, as professional athletes, their days are necessarily organised around this. But we too, in our own small way, could certainly try to imitate them, perhaps by switching off the TV a little earlier in the evening or treating ourselves to a short 20-minute break in the early afternoon to close our eyes and relax, even if we cannot actually manage a few minutes' extra sleep.
In autumn, diet and healthy eating have an even more beneficial effect than usual. Foods rich in fat and refined flours, or highly processed foods, do not help digestion and limit the intake of important micronutrients. All vitamin complexes are in fact involved in the optimal maintenance of the antioxidant and restorative processes on which the health of our immune defences, our recovery from stress, and the health of our joints, skin and hair depend. Not to mention the effect heavy meals can have on those who usually suffer from the classic seasonal discomfort of gastro-oesophageal reflux: in this case, paying attention to food quality, portion size, chewing time and speed of swallowing is a must. Here too, elite athletes are a formidable example: there is no professional sports team that does not devote the right amount of time to every meal, always a good number of hours away from exercise to make digestion easier, with a good mix of easily digestible foods "before" and foods richer in protein, vegetables and fruit "after", always keeping a good balance of macronutrients.
And what about exercise? Doing sport in these months keeps us from slipping into a lethargic state from which it would then be hard to recover. Continuing to train even on less regular days can help the difficult moments pass more quickly. If necessary, it is better to do gentle or low-intensity sessions than to decide to stop altogether. If, on the other hand, there are no contraindications, try pushing harder in some sessions and giving your whole body a bigger boost, or try reducing the overall length of your sessions while increasing the intensity of the work. A steady, targeted and proportionate training stimulus helps to maintain the health of our defences and prepares our whole body to face the difficult winter months as well as possible, ready and trained to cope with the challenges that may arise in the cold season.
A tip on supplementation?!? Courses of vitamin C at medium-high doses, complete multivitamins to take daily and the help of quality protein supplements that are easy to digest and well balanced, in handy bars or as a powder to mix. Simple, right?
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