Resilience: Physical Fitness

Resilience is the capacity to adapt successfully in the presence of risk and adversity. So today we continue this series by exploring the physical fitness aspect of resiliency.

This factor of resilience relates to lifestyle choices that you can make to increase your resilience through physical fitness. I know this may seem like the boring stuff you already know, but this is some of the most basic building blocks for a solid foundation of resiliency.

Unhealthy habits such as smoking and excessive use of drugs or alcohol can reduce resilience. This is because they are easy, mindless habits that we get into that hurt our bodies.

Learn to listen to and take care of your body. In a society where we are taught our value comes from productivity, we tend to ignore the signals we get from our bodies. Take this time and learn to start listening to your body, what does it need? Also learn to listen to your body, are you actually hungry or are you just bored?

Go get your regular check-ups and go to the doctor as needed. Take care of your physical hygiene – just because you are sheltering in place doesn’t mean you need to stop taking showers or brushing your teeth.

Engage in regular exercise and stretching.

Get a good night’s sleep, and develop a regular sleep schedule. The average adult needs 7-9 hours of sleep a night. Sleep is a biological necessity and it is when our brain naturally digests stressful or traumatic experiences from the day.

Work on developing a healthy diet.

Start developing or strengthening your healthy ways to cope with stress. Go outside, interact with nature. Get into therapy. Learn meditation or guided visualizations.

Look at all of these ways to start building up your resiliency. Stay tuned for further posts on building resiliency…