Michele Ionno, our Recover Lead, is a Doctor of Physical Therapist and not a Psychologist nor a mental health counselor of any kind. The articles written during Recover Week may at times reference mental health or mental skills training. When this occurs, it is only Dr. Ionno, DPT, bringing these important topics to your attention. The information should be taken only as entertainment and his opinion but if interested, we are happy to connect you to one of our colleagues in the Psychology profession to explore these topics further. In fact, we recommend each of you include a Psychologist on your Performance & Wellness Team. Do you want to learn more information on the topics we’ve introduced here? Are you ready to seek the help or services of a mental health clinician? If so, you could start at the American Psychological Association, National Register of Health Service Psychologists, or the Association for Applied Sports Psychology. If you do not find what you are looking for, reach out to us and we will happily help you find a licensed provider in your area.
Back when I first talked about your relationship with stress, a point of emphasis was how important it is for you to utilize stress as a tool. Today’s post is to help you understand why it’s important for you to know when to say “Enough is enough.”
Definition and General Tactics
The FMR Team considers passive recovery to be the things you do that have an indirect effect on your stress management, performance, and/or well-being. There are three prongs that are central to how we define passive recovery.
Nutrition
Sleep
Decision-triage.
Nutrition
This is a big one. It’s so big and important that Lindsay has dedicated her professional career to this arena. All I will say here is that having a consistent and healthy diet will allow you to work harder (physically and mentally). This well-balanced approach will allow you to recover more successfully and quickly from stressors you encounter (good or bad).
Sleep
Sleep helps to ensure the body is receiving the care it needs as it restores itself and builds off the acquired stress of the day. We will be spending a lot of time on this topic, as few of us get enough sleep. Oftentimes, even those getting enough sleep, may not get the quality of sleep they need.
Decision-Triage
This is the final section of passive recovery, which aims to guide you to better decision-making. Essentially this means that there are times when the best thing to do is rest or take it easy rather than going hard. People struggle with viewing this as a negative, but actually, it is a testament to how hard you worked earlier in the day or the day before. You will make more progress by letting the previous work soak in versus the gains you would make by going hard again.
Sleep
Sleep (or lack thereof) affects everything. Getting more or better sleep will improve everything. In fact, poor or insufficient sleep results in more depression, GI issues, breathing, or anxiety problems.
There is nothing that is NOT impacted by your sleep!
You’ve learned from Lindsay that what you eat can affect your sleep. And you’ve heard her say that fasting is like a magic pill that can improve pretty much everything about your metabolism. Well, you can add sleep to the list of things that have an almost magical effect on your performance and well-being. Getting more sleep or higher quality sleep will improve everything!
What a powerful performance-enhancing supplement sleep is. Science has shown that inadequate sleep can lead to impaired metabolism. Maybe if you are frustrated by your lack of progress, the cause may actually be from your sleep rather than terrible mistakes in your nutrition or exercise routine? Either way, I want to inspire you to address your sleep habits rather than ignore it or treat it as a badge of honor.
Decision triage
Decision triage is the final component that contributes to a healthy lifestyle and optimize performance.
Remember that passive recovery is defined as the actions you take that have an indirect effect on your performance and wellness.
This means the choices you make have a big impact on how you perform and feel the next day, session, etc. For example, there is research showing that if you don’t take care of your stress level or muscle/joint pain, you are likely going to sleep poorly. So if you are sore and achy, doing some restorative, relaxing exercises, foam rolling, stretching or yoga is better than going hard at the gym. If you are stressed out from work or your personal life, going for a walk or workout (even if it is a short one) will help decrease your stress level and aid in getting a good night of sleep.
Take-Home Message
Inside-Out Approach: Taking care of these passive recovery items will improve your performance and wellness without specifically working on your performance or wellness.
Put it in the bank: By making the point to prioritize the quality of your sleep and your nutrition, you are building up durability for your body and mind to be ready for tomorrow’s challenges and stress.
Too much of a good thing: Despite what King George Strait sings, too much of a good thing is actually a bad thing. You need to know when to say “enough is enough,” because more stress (good or bad) can wear you down.
Don’t be a sacrificial lamb: Research has shown that having a weird schedule is not a death sentence for your wellness. Don’t let the difficulties of your situation result in a lack of effort to maintain a healthy, thriving life.
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