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Health & Fitness Wednesday, August 14, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Recovery is critical to health and performance
By Ashlee Francis
Correspondent
Recovery is the art of pro-
viding the body with what it
craves after performance and
training to help it come back
stronger, leaner and faster.
At one point or another,
someone has probably told
you to let your body recover,
but if you don9t know what
that looks like, how will you
recover smarter and more
efficiently? How will you
take time after a long bicycle
ride or personal training ses-
sion at the gym to let your
body heal and prepare for
the next activity? In order to
accomplish your optimal per-
formance capabilities, you
must learn the steps of recov-
ery. These include: Sleep,
nutrition, hydration, rest and
active recovery methods,
such as contrast therapy.
If you are not getting the
proper amount of or qual-
ity sleep, then nothing else
Paw
Prints
Jodi Schneider McNamee
Columnist
Cancer in dogs
They are among the
words you least want to
hear: Your dog has cancer.
Recently there have been
claims in the media 4 from
veterinarians to lay people
4 that canine and feline
cancer rates are rising, and
we are experiencing an
<epidemic.=
Sisters resident Katie
Keranen recently lost her
10-year-old golden retriever,
Crash, to cancer.
<Cancer seems too com-
mon in dogs, especially
golden retrievers,= Keranen
told The Nugget. <My two
brothers9 dogs died of can-
cer also, and one of my par-
ents9 dogs died of cancer.=
Is cancer truly increas-
ing in dogs and cats? No
one really knows for sure.
Cancer is not a reportable
disease in pets, and there
are no databases of cancer
cases covering large enough
populations in enough detail
to make reliable statements
about overall cancer rates.
Dr. Little Liedbald, a
longtime veterinarian at
Broken Top Veterinary
matters. Your body will be
unable to keep up with the
demands you are placing on
it during physical activity.
This should be your priority,
followed closely by adequate
water intake and proper nutri-
tion to fuel and rebuild the
muscles. When you work out,
you take the body into a state
of stress. This physical stress
breaks down your muscles,
which is needed in order to
help them grow. However,
if you do not allow proper
recovery after this stress,
your muscles will not repair,
thus leading to injury.
To grow stronger both
physically and mentally, you
must allow yourself to get
comfortable being uncom-
fortable. Fredrick Douglass
said, <If there is no struggle,
there is no progress.= We
live in a culture that pro-
motes ease of living. We
are surrounded by heated
steering wheels and air-con-
ditioned office buildings,
which seem like wonderful
inventions, but have taken
away the human need for
resilience. Discomfort cre-
ates vulnerability and when
we are vulnerable, we are
given the chance to grow and
become durable under new
circumstances.
Most people associate
the word recovery with sit-
ting on a beach in Hawaii,
piña colada in hand, listen-
ing to the strumming of a
ukulele. Believe it or not,
fully submerging your body
in Whychus Creek, hands
tucked by your sides, listen-
ing to the sound of air slowly
being inhaled and exhaled
through your nose can also
be recovery. Contrast therapy
is an active recovery method.
Laird Hamilton refers to it as
Fire and Ice. This involves
exposing the body to extreme
temperatures, both hot and
cold, with the use of a sauna
and ice baths.
Ice baths lower the core
Clinic in Sisters, said,
<While cancer rates in dogs
and people may be similar,
there are really no report-
ing agencies that can or do
keep track of all this infor-
mation. Cancer is a report-
able disease in humans, and
keeping track of numer-
ous types of cancer is still
daunting. In dogs, there are
even more variables to keep
track of. Age, breed, sex and
altered status to name a few.
Sometimes when one goes
into researching the statis-
tics of cancer in animals
there may be factors unac-
counted for, and this can
lead to unreliable results in
reporting cancer rates.=
Whether or not cancer is
on the rise, one in four dogs
may end up with cancer and
half of the dogs over 10
years of age die from cancer.
Statistically speaking,
cancer is a disease of middle
and old age. Certain cancers
are largely preventable with
sensible lifestyle choices.
Early detection is a critical
factor. Cancer is also hered-
itary, sometimes running in
canine families.
Just as with humans,
early detection offers by far
the most realistic hope for
your dog9s survival, particu-
larly for those cancers which
aggressively metastasize.
<We think the most
important factor in caring
for pets is to know what is
normal for your animal.
Knowing what your pet
looks like, how they behave,
and being familiar with their
normal daily routine can all
play crucial roles in keep-
ing them healthy,= Liedbald
said. <If anything seems
unusual or different then it
is important that your pet
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temperature of the body,
which triggers the body to
release dopamine, norepi-
nephrine and testosterone,
all hormones which help
reduce pain and elevate your
mood. The cold temperature
decreases inflammation and
changes blood flow to help
improve muscular and cardio-
vascular recovery. Full-body
submersions increase recov-
ery more efficiently than par-
tial submersion, cryotherapy
or icing a specific body part
because there is a greater sys-
temic affect and the entire
body is influenced, helping
with the clearance of meta-
bolic waste and the activation
of RNA-binding proteins. In
short, cold-water immersion
can help you get lean and
strengthen your immunity to
bacteria and viruses.
There are coaches in
Sisters who are certified to
lead you through the XPT
Fire and Ice therapy, but if
you would like to ease into
it on your own, you can start
with a cold shower at home.
Take your normal shower
at home, but end with thirty
seconds standing in the
coldest water you can toler-
ate. Gradually increase the
amount of time you can stay
under the cold water. When
the cold water first hits your
body, your first instinct will
be to take quick, shallow
breaths. Prevent this by slow-
ing down your breathing and
counting to five as you inhale
through the nose. Exhale for
a count of five to 10 seconds
through the nose. Continue
this breathing drill, bringing
your focus to the breath and
off the cold water.
If you have a history of
heart or health issues, ask
your doctor beforehand if
cold water immersion is
something you should try.
To get more information
on the benefits of contrast
therapy, reach out to hello@
sweatpnw.com.
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