Hi everyone, it’s Erienne with Peak Endurance. I want to talk to you guys today about making sure we’re getting in our MEDS. I will explain what that means in a little bit.

So as physical therapists, we are very good at prescribing exercises and activity modifications in order to gain strength and range of motion. And get you out of pain and performing better. But what I want to talk to you about today is setting up your body for success to allow these exercises to get you the progress that you’re looking for.

So what I mean by meds is not your medication, but your Mindfulness, Exercise, Diet, and Sleep. These core things play a crucial role in getting your body balanced, and in a  good spot to get and stay healthy.

M- Mindfulness:

So when we’re talking about the M, we’re talking about mindfulness. I relate this to stress levels. So the more stress you have in your body, the further away from equilibrium or balance you become. Implementing things like meditation, or going for walks or just quiet time. Maybe it’s your gym routine, that helps relieve some of your stress or is important to do. And do on a daily basis to get into a good routine to help reduce those stress levels.

E – Exercise: 

The E of MEDS is exercise. So it’s recommended that you get between 150 and 300 minutes per week of moderate to vigorous activity. However you want to end up doing that. They also suggest two to three days of strength training. So we are making sure that our body is staying healthy and strong and resilient.

D – Diet:

The D of MEDS is diet or your nutrition. And today, I want to specifically touch on your water intake and your protein intake. So it is recommended that we drink half of our body weight in ounces of water. So if you have a 200 pound individual, you should be aiming to drink about 100 ounces of water a day. 

And then for protein intake, it’s recommended that you intake 0.8-1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. So again, you take that same 200 pound individual and you’re aiming for between 160 and 200 grams of protein a day. The other thing about diet and nutrition is we want to reduce the amount of processed foods we take in. The more whole foods, the better. Again, to keep that ecosystem and that body really balanced and healthy.

S – Sleep:

And then the last part of MEDS the S is sleep. Sleep is a big one. Not enough of us are getting enough of it. So it’s recommended between seven and nine hours of sleep per night. That depends on the individual definitely. But we also want those to be quality hours of sleep. So making sure that we’re hitting that REM cycle. Sleep hygiene has a lot to do with that. So some things to think about are eliminating screen time, at least an hour before bedtime. Having a very dark room which means blackout curtains if you need them. And then the temperature of your room. 65 degrees has been proven to be the best for a sleeping environment.

So when I say you guys make sure we are getting our MEDS and I mean this kind of MEDS: mindfulness, exercise, diet and sleep. To help build a good balanced ecosystem. And to make you as an individual as resilient as possible.