Hello everyone Floyd Meyer here I am a Physician Assistant with a Master’s in public health, a degree in molecular biology, and I am currently working in physical medicine and rehabilitation.
Last week we discussed the COVID crisis and how your overall health status is the number 1 predictor of whether this disease will cause hospitalization or if you will be relatively asymptomatic. If you haven’t seen that yet I recommend you pause this video and check that out first.
That is why moving forward I will be focusing all my efforts to show people how to increase their inner strength through my Become More Resilient series.
You can think of your physical resilience as a bank account that you draw from in times of need. Our resilience is what determines whether we grow from our experiences or they destroy us.
Resilience has been defined as the capacity to remain well, recover, or even thrive in the face of adversity.
Life is difficult, period. During our time on this world we will be constantly challenged by adversity, and we must be strong enough to meet these challenges. This is why we must cultivate our resilience so that we can positively adapt to and rise above adversity.
I want you to take a moment and think of someone who you would describe as resilient. Someone that can thrive in the face of adversity.
Most people will think of some kind of athlete, but others may think of someone they know personally who has made it through difficult times.
Generally, these are the same people who we look up to and admire. Those who we consider great.
Now, what do you think these great people would be like if life had been handed to them on a silver platter? Would they be someone that you look up to? Would you even know who they are?
We should not aspire to a life without difficult challenges, but instead strive to be the type of person who can overcome those challenges! Life’s obstacles are opportunities for growth and transformation. So what factors contribute to our overall resilience?
As you can see in this image put forward in a systematic review on resilience, our physical resilience is determined by multiple factors including our environment, life experience, physiologic reserve, genetics, and psychosocial factors. (Whitson et al., 2015)
We can’t control every factor that influences our resilience, but one thing we do have significant control over is our physiological reserves. Your physiologic reserve is the capacity of a cell, tissue, or organ system to function beyond its normal level in response to increased demands. (Whitson et al., 2015)
These reserves can be measured through stress testing like a VO2 max test for lung function, or a treadmill stress test for cardiac function.
And this is where healthy lifestyle choices really can shine. We have an amazing ability to increase our body’s physiological reserves.
Just think about all of the couch to 5k videos that are online. People can quickly go from not being able to run around the block to being able to run multiple miles without stopping. This is a perfect example of someone increasing their heart and lungs capacity to handle an increased demand.
But having that increased capacity for a short amount of time isn’t enough.
The key to being resilient is CONSISTENCY.
As we said before, you want to think of your resilience like a bank account. We need to make regular deposits into our account in order to have money in there for the inevitable day that you need it. Resilience is exactly the same. It requires consistent action to be resilient.
Imagine if you only exercised once per month. Do you think that will be enough if you have to quickly run away from a dangerous situation? And even if you are consistent exercising 3 times per week for one month, do you think that will be enough if you then stop for the next 3 years?
In order to have physical resilience you need to be consistent with your lifestyle choices. Consistent action is how you build the foundation of resilience.
It is the bedrock on which health stands on.
Moving forward I will be explaining how to build your resilience through topics such as habit transformation, sleep, nutrition, hydration, exercise, and many more. While I will do my very best to explain things simply and give actionable steps along the way this is not a get healthy quick scheme.
In the words of Jocko Willink- “People look for the short cut, the hack, if you came here looking for that you won’t find it. The short cut is a lie. The hack doesn’t get you there. If you want to take the easy road, it won’t take you to where you want to be. To reach goals and overcome obstacles and be the best version of you possible will not happen by itself. It will not happen cutting corners, taking shortcuts or taking the easy way. There is no easy way. There must be discipline.”
Now more than ever it is important to be resilient, to be able to handle adversity, and I am excited to show you how.
If this resonated with you please share with your friends and family and subscribe and follow for more of this content. The time for action is now. Again this is Floyd Meyer. Have a great day!
References
Bircher, J. (2005). Towards a Dynamic Definition of Health and Disease. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 8(3), 335–341. doi:10.1007/s11019-005-0538-y
LeBrasseur, N. K. (2017). Physical Resilience: Opportunities and Challenges in Translation. The Journals of Gerontology: Series A, 72(7), 978–979. doi:10.1093/gerona/glx028
Matuska, Kathleen. (2014). The Art and Science of Resilience. OTJR : occupation, participation and health. 34. 2-3. 10.3928/15394492-20131211-01.
Whitson, H. E., Duan-Porter, W., Schmader, K. E., Morey, M. C., Cohen, H. J., & Colón-Emeric, C. S. (2015). Physical Resilience in Older Adults: Systematic Review and Development of an Emerging Construct. The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 71(4), 489–495. doi:10.1093/gerona/glv202
Catalyst Impacts 