In these uncertain and unprecedented times, taking care of the immune system is of paramount importance. One factor that is often underestimated but that has a decisive effect on immunity is the ability to manage stress. But how can you manage your stress level in the most effective way? In order to get this answer, we sat down with Florent Rivault, Wellbeing Manager at Aspria Royal La Rasante.
1. Keep an eye on your biological age
Your levels of stress are reflected in your biological age. While your chronological age represents the number of years since you were born, your biological age is a mirror of your body’s wellness. Besides your levels of stress, the biological age is directly influenced by your exercise routine, diet, alcohol consumption, smoking, weight, and more. Keeping your biological age as low as possible can help you maintain high energy levels, as well as reduce the risk of diseases and premature death.
Additionally, knowing our biological age can encourage us to shift to a healthier and balanced lifestyle, serving as a factor to keep you motivated. Do you want to know how old your body is? Keep reading.
2. AspriaPro: Your health assessment system
“AspriaPro is a holistic program based on a comprehensive health assessment system. This effective instrument helps you to measure your biological age through a private consultation with one of Aspria experts. The assessment includes the measurement of various parameters, including body composition, blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose levels, VO2 max, free radicals, antioxidants and oxidative stress, heart rate variability, stress resistance and posture,” explains Florent Rivault.
Based on these results, AspriaPro experts create a personalized program to improve each one of these parameters, decreasing your biological age.
AspriaPro is also a useful tool to reveal certain serious diseases, such as arterial hypertension, hyperglycemia, and high cholesterol. All these diseases can be experienced for years without even noticing their effects until the onset of a clinical complication. This is why prevention is important. Although today there are several pharmacological solutions to treat these disorders, preventing their onset is much easier. A regular exercise routine is the best natural therapy to avoid the insurgence of metabolic diseases. Exercising is beneficial for most organ systems, including carbohydrate and lipid metabolisms, the cardiovascular and renal systems, the liver function, the respiratory and central nervous systems, and the immune system.
Thanks to a regular and careful monitoring, you will be able to keep an eye on your stress level while boosting your immune system.
Florent Rivault, Wellbeing Manager at Aspria Royal La Rasante.
3. Improve your biological age through stress management
To improve your biological age – and hence your immune system – you do not necessarily have to follow a strict diet or train hard every single day. All you need to do is to focus on a healthy lifestyle that you can keep in the long term. Therefore, this has to also include relaxation and stress management techniques. Although often underestimated, stress management plays a vital role for the wellbeing of the immune system. Practicing physical activities and sports is an effective way to maintain a low level of stress.
According to experts, a moderate intensity exercise session (around sixty minutes of moderate physical activity per day) can prevent you from being over stressed. However, practicing strenuous activities (such as training for a marathon) may have the opposite effect. Indeed, prolonged and high-intensity physical exercise can activate the release of stress hormones (cortisol, endorphins, etc.), making the immune system more vulnerable.
It is easy to see the pattern. Physical activity, stress management, and immune system: Everything is correlated.
Florent Rivault, Wellbeing Manager at Aspria Royal La Rasante.
If you are trapped in your hectic schedules, Florent recommends meditation classes. “Meditating can help you control your breathing techniques and is a powerful activity to combat stress. If you want to engage in something more active, try a yoga session, a spinning class, or a weight training session to rebalance your energy,” he says.
The Covid-19 crisis has shown us the importance of taking care of both our body and our mind. Now more than ever, it is crucial to be in good shape to overcome physical worries and to help our immune system successfully combat the virus during the winter.
