Healthy heart and strong bones

Craig McLean DC has written another great piece for Inside Edge on preparing for skiing. Here’s a summary of the article, or you can read the full article here.

No matter what age you get into skiing, once you're hooked you're going to want to go again and again. Looking after your body will help ensure you're able to do this. A healthy heart and strong bones are crucial to being able to continue skiing throughout your life and there are several things you can be doing to proactively keep them in shape.

Statistics show that heart disease is, globally, the leading cause of death. Our maximum heart rate (HR) is calculated by subtracting your age from 220 (so mine would be 220 – 47 = 173). This means that as you age your maximum HR decreases. Lifestyle challenges, such as a diet high in sugar or saturated fats (leading respectively to diabetes or high cholesterol), sedentary tendencies and poor exercise habits result in the clogging of arteries and a consequent reduction in heart function. So what can we do to buck this trend as we get older?

For starters, we can monitor our heart rates, using apps, pedometers, smart watches or a Whoop. Then the most simple strategy to buck the trend of decreasing heart rate is to exercise. Do short bursts of intense activity, and try to get your heart rate high for really short intervals. Basically anything that gives you bursts of being out of breath and being unable to hold a conversation will do the trick.

Onto your bones, weight-bearing exercise is key. Running, walking and lifting weights are the best ways to stimulate increased bone strength naturally. Also, ensure your diet is full of calcium, vitamin D and magnesium, or add these as supplements.