• • practices two times per week may largely benefit their outcome. Get adequate rest [as described above] and sleep during off times. Increase your nutrient intake, particularly quality car-bohydrates and protein with added intensity training. cise is not exempt. In times of elevated stress or demands, it can be worth considering the implementation of key nutrients that will benefit performance, immunity, and restore potential stressed-induced depletions. These include: • Vitamin C: It has been shown that vitamin C is depleted in an overly sympathetic state. Vitamin C is best ab-sorbed in divided doses at or under 1,000 mg. Bowel tolerance testing can be used to better estimate the most correct dose for the athlete. Vitamin C is required when fighting infection. It is also required for ligament and tissue repair, playing an important role in injury repair. • Magnesium: Magnesium is depleted by stress and high muscular demand. Further, when you consider that up to 75 percent of North Americans already do not get enough from their diet, it makes it a particularly impor-tant nutrient to consider. Glycinate forms tend to be better absorbed and important for muscular concerns of tension and pain. • B12: Both oral or injectable B12 can be an important component of athletic performance, illness and injury recovery and prevention, as well as support energy de-mands. If it is a high demand time for the athlete, with these cortisol raising exercises or training being required of the athlete, we can improve the overall balance by incorporating specific times of cortisol lowering activities. These include: • Slow walking in nature. Athletes can make a routine of an after dinner walk. This will help lower cortisol levels before bed, allowing for additional nighttime rest. • Deep breathing. As little as five minutes of deep breath-ing a day can restore balance in the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system. Athletes can incorpo-rate this first thing in the morning. • Yoga, gentle stretching, or tai chi: all of these will allow for cortisol lowering, as well as increased flexibility, control, and oxygenation to the muscles in high de-mand. Having an athlete incorporate one of these 14 Chiropractic and Naturopathic Doctor January/February 2021 If the athlete does get sick, in addition to the basics like rest, hydration and some good nutrition, there may be a role for extra support: Immune supportive supplements: • Vitamin C: While vitamin C is a more popular option for immune health, studies have shown it may not have a great involvement in prevention of cold/flu. However, white blood cells that are activated during an immune response, require more vitamin C, so the added support from supplement or foods like citrus or strawberries may help you get better faster. • Zinc citrate: Zinc is an immune modulator, anti-inflam-matory, and antimicrobial. It may help prevent and treat common colds and flus. • Vitamin D: there is an important role for vitamin D in immune health, and is particularly useful for prevention compared to other vitamin and supplement options. Lower blood serum levels of vitamin D are also corre-lated with various immune concerns, as well as other things like depression, fatigue, and bone concerns. • Oil of oregano: a strong antimicrobial oil that can be combined with warm foods or soups. It can be taken on it’s own as well, but long term use is not ideal as it’s strong microbial action may kill off good bacteria. • Herbal medicine: select herbs like ginseng, echinacea, astragalus and mushrooms such as cordyceps and reishi can have wonderful quality for immune support, im-proving energy and resiliency, and providing some preventative protection against colds and flus. These are best chosen by a trained ND or functional medicine practitioner in accordance with the individuals’ health history. They should be used with care given the strength and potential interactions of some herbal medicines. The part cannot be separated from the whole. Reaching specific performance and skill goals may be delayed or pre-vented if the athlete is not living a well-balanced, health promoting life. We must strive for balance even when train-ing and demands make this difficult. A more mindful ap-proach to the athletes health will help short term goals along with supporting the athletes longevity both in sport and in life. Getting sick, well References 1. 2. 3. Coyle, E.F. (2004).Fluid and fuel intake during exer-cise. Journal of Sports Sciences, 22:39R Murray, R. (1995). Fluid Needs in Hot and Cold Envi-ronments. International Journal of Sports Nutrition, 5, S62RS7355 Pramuková, B., Szabadosová, V., & Soltésová, A. (2011). Current knowledge about sports nutrition. The Aus-tralasian medical journal, 4(3), 107–110. www.Cndoctor.ca Photo: © Microgen / Adobe Stock
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