Professional athletes, non professional athletes and fitness enthusiasts continuously seek methods to optimise their performance in order to push personal best records and achieve their goals.
Traditional approaches including rigorous training schedules and specialised diets have long been the foundation of athletic success. An emerging trend in the world of sports is to leverage health technology innovation and integrate holistic wellness with personalisation to push their physical limits ethically and compliantly.
Personalised Nutrition:
Everyone is unique in their nutritional requirements. We now know that our genetic background heavily influences our nutritional needs with nutrigenomics, the study of the interaction of nutrition and genes increasing our understanding that a one-sized-fits-all diet isn’t right for everyone.
We now have the tools to cost effectively assess an individual’s genetics, metabolic function, biochemistry and nutritional status to tailor a diet that meets their specific requirements.
This approach ensures essential nutrients crucial for energy production, muscle repair and overall wellbeing can be provided to maximise performance potential and promote faster recovery after physical exertion.
Herbal Medicines:
There are several permitted herbal medicines that have strong clinical evidence to support their use in improving athletic performance, endurance and recovery. These are in the class of adaptogens and include the ginsengs.
Adaptogens are a class of herbs known for their ability to help the body adapt to stress, both physical and mental. In the context of athletic performance, adaptogens can be valuable in managing the stress associated with intense training and competition.
The adaptogens have been found to regulate hormones including cortisol resulting in enhanced resilience, improved focus, stronger immunity and overall improved mental wellbeing.
There are other herbs including immuno-modulators including Turmeric that can also aid in reducing inflammation, promote faster healing resulting in faster recovery times.
Biohacking:
Biohacking is a term using science, technology and lifestyle modifications to optimise human performance. Biohacking to enhance athletic performance and recovery is used by numerous well known athletes including Lebron James who famously spends $1.5 million per year on his body.
Using tools such as continuous glucose monitors and sleep trackers to assess key health metrics, biohacking involves monitoring data and manipulation of key factors that can influence these metrics including nutrition, sleep patterns and exercise routines. By fine-tuning these variables to see what works best, athletes can potentially unlock new levels of performance and recovery through health optimisation.
Athletes can harness the benefits of natural and evidence based practices as part of a comprehensive approach in achieving peak performance and long term wellbeing affordably and without a budget the size of Lebron James'.
If you are interested in learning more about how to improve your performance, I can provide expert guidance working in an integrative manner with your team of healthcare professionals.
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