It’s not just doctors and physical therapy that help you heal after an injury.
The small things you do every day matter. Often they’re the difference between meeting a recovery timeline… and throwing the whole schedule out the window.
Here’s the deal…
Optimal healing takes a body-wide approach. Simple lifestyle tweaks can mean the difference between fast recovery and setbacks along the way.
You’ll learn:
- Why Sleep Is Critical For Healing
- How Nutrition Supports Recovery
- Why Movement Matters For Long-Term Healing
- The Importance Of Managing Stress
- How To Build A Supportive Network
Why Lifestyle Changes Are Important After Sustaining An Injury
When you get injured…
Whether through a car wreck, work accident or just tripping and falling… your body needs time and support to heal.
Doctors and therapists fix what they can medically. But the everyday decisions you make either support recovery… or make it much more difficult.
If you’ve suffered a serious injury, reach out to bothell personal injury lawyers and see what they have to say. A free consultation personal injury lawyer can help you understand what financial compensation can cover going forward. Take care of the legal stuff and focus on recovering.
What most people don’t know is that…
Everything you do while you recover at home matters. A lot. Let’s dig into the most important stuff.
Sleep: Build Your Recovery On A Good Foundation
When it comes to healing… sleep is seriously underrated.
Your body releases critical growth hormones during deep sleep. Blood flows more easily. Cellular repair processes take place. And this cycle repeats about every 90 minutes while you sleep.
Here’s the kicker…
Approximately 50 to 70 million Americans suffer from sleep disorders. That’s HALF the country dealing with a factor essential to healing.
Poor sleep can:
- Thwart tissue repair
- Increase inflammation
- Make you feel more pain
- Extend your recovery time
Most adults should be getting seven or more hours each night. Someone recovering from an injury might need more. When healing is underway, aim for 8-10 hours if you can.
Want to sleep better? Try a few of these tips:
- Go to bed at the same time every night
- Don’t look at screens for an hour leading up to bed
- Make sure your room is cool, dark and quiet
- Don’t eat large meals or drink alcohol before bed
- Try some gentle stretches before hitting the hay
Your body does a lot of its healing while you sleep. Make sure it has the chance to do that!
Nutrition: Give Your Body The Tools To Recover
Your body can’t heal if you don’t give it the proper nutrients to do so.
Think of nutrition as the building supplies your body needs to recover. Protein helps repair muscle tissue. Vitamins and minerals facilitate other processes like immune health and bone strength.
Here’s an analogy…
A construction crew can’t do their job without the materials to build. Your body is the crew and nutrition are the supplies.
Focus on getting plenty of:
- Protein
- Vitamin C
- Zinc
- Omega 3 Fatty Acids
- Calcium and Vitamin D
Eat too many processed foods and sugar? You’ll likely create more inflammation and experience fatigue. That makes it harder for your body to heal.
Whole foods will provide the clean energy your body needs to heal.
As a bonus, drink plenty of water! Staying hydrated means nutrients will travel to injured areas easier. It also helps flush out toxins. Shoot for eight, 8 ounce glasses of water a day.
(More if you’re very active during recovery.)
Movement: Stay Active As Injury Allows
Too much rest can be just as bad as too little.
While injured, staying lightly active can actually improve your recovery time. It encourages blood flow to injured areas and keep muscle from weakening. Gentle movement helps maintain flexibility while healing.
But there is a balance to strike.
Too little activity and you risk stiffness and muscle loss. Too much can cause reinjury. Work with your physical therapist to find what movement you can safely handle.
Even if it’s just walking around your house or gently stretching.
Movement also releases endorphins. Your body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Those will help with both mental and physical pain.
Speaking of physical therapy…
Research shows dropout rates for rehabilitation programs can reach 50-70% of the time.
Sticking with the regimen your PT gives you can improve your recovery speed.
Manage Your Stress Levels While Recovering From Injury
Stress is bad for recovery…and most people don’t realize just how bad.
When under stress your body produces cortisol. High cortisol levels can increase inflammation, hinder healing and interfere with sleep.
It creates a vicious cycle.
You got injured and are stressed. Stress slows your recovery down. Your recovery is taking longer than you want and you’re stressed some more.
Once again… you have to take steps to break the cycle.
Tips for keeping stress at bay:
- Focus on deep breathing
- Meditation or mindfulness
- Yoga (doctor approved, of course)
- Spend time in nature
- Talk to positive people
- Limit news and social media
Mental health and recovery go hand in hand. Many people experience depression and anxiety after serious injury. That can have a negative impact on your recovery mojo.
If you’re struggling, talk to a professional. There’s no shame in seeking help from a counselor or therapist.
Build A Recovery Support Network
No one should have to recover from an injury alone.
Surrounding yourself with good people makes a huge difference. Not only can they help with physical tasks, but emotional support goes a long way when you’re injured.
Here are a few things your support network should include:
- Family
- Friends
- Medical Professionals
- A Free Consultation Personal Injury Lawyer
Hold on. Lawyers can be part of your support network too?
Yep. Dealing with insurance companies and medical expenses when you’ve just been injured is stressful.
Throwing a free consultation personal injury lawyer on the problem lets you focus on getting better. They can handle the legal side of your recovery while you… you know… recover.
Let’s Review
There’s more to injury recovery than doctors appointments and PT sessions.
The small lifestyle choices you make each day truly add up. Here’s your quick recap:
- Get 7-10 hours of sleep each night
- Focus on eating nutrient dense foods
- Stay as active as your injury allows
- Keep stress levels to a minimum
- Build a supportive network of friends, family and professionals
Cost? Free. Requires crazy equipment? Nope. But these small lifestyle tweaks can have a big impact on your recovery.
Your body wants to heal. Give it the tools and environment it needs to do the job.