Health First, Performance Second
To be an elite athlete, you must first be a healthy human.
Health is the foundation for life. Whether you’re LeBron James or someone who never trains, without good health, your quality of life will be low.
Unfortunately, athletes often overlook their health in pursuit of performance.
But you don’t need to sacrifice performance for health. It’s time to put athlete immunity at the top of our priority list.
Keep reading and I’ll explain why it is critical to prioritise health over performance, how important athlete immunity is, and how to improve your immunity with nutrition and stress management.
Why prioritise health over performance?
Many athletes’ careers are cut short due to avoidable injuries and emotional fatigue.
Your success as an athlete is determined by your ability to perform in competition and training consistently.
To do that, you need a strong immune system.
If you’re too sick or run down, you can’t show up and perform. This means you’re losing opportunities to improve, while your competition can (and is).
Athlete Health isn’t just about training
Although a lot of an athlete’s time is spent training, there are still 22 hours left in the day. Every minute of your daily 24 hours can be used to optimise performance.
How you fuel, sleep, manage stress, and even breathe can determine your likelihood of winning in your sport. Here’s how:
Sleep - Poor quality sleep puts you at 5x greater risk of catching a cold. If total sleep is less than 7 hours, you’re at a threefold increased risk.
Stress - Stress is a catalyst for growth. But too much stress in the wrong areas will make you more likely to get sick.
Micronutrient deficiencies - Approximately 5% of your human genome is impacted by Vitamin D. If you are Vitamin D deficient, you’re at a 3-4x greater risk of catching a cold.
Mouth breathing - If you breathe through your mouth more than your nose, your salivary flow rate will decline significantly, compromising your immunity.
7 Ways to Improve Immunity
1 - Eat natural foods, not processed
Your food and supplement choices can potentially improve immunity, prevent illness, or minimise the severity and duration of colds and flu. Ultra-processed foods only have negative effects on your health.
2 - Get more Vitamin D
In winter, Vitamin D supplementation is essential - especially for athletes living in colder climates. Consider testing your Vitamin D levels and aim for 2,000 - 4,000 IU. Although you may struggle to find an adequate dosage of Vitamin D, foods such as fatty fish and eggs are good sources.
3 - Make time for rest and recovery
Not working can be just as effective (if not more effective) for boosting your immunity and health than working. In a world of toxic hustle culture and 28-hour morning routines, taking a step back for rest and recovery will be your secret weapon as an athlete (and human). That means recovery from training and daily stressors.
4 - Wash your hands
If the 2020 COVID pandemic didn’t teach you anything, this is your sign to wash your hands often and properly. The most common transporter of colds is sneezing. There is an 80% chance you’ll get sick from someone sneezing nearby. You may not be able to avoid this in certain situations.
5 - Don’t forget about carbohydrates
Despite what many people will try to make you believe, carbs are NOT evil. They play a pivotal role in supporting your immune system. During training, carbohydrates prevent blood glucose from falling too low, reducing inflammation after exercise.
6 - Meditate/control your breathing
Meditation is proven to be one of the most effective ways of managing mental stress. Included in this practice is the nose breathing as opposed to mouth breathing. This can be challenging to keep track of while you’re sleeping, so mouth-taping is recommended to solve it.
7 - Sleep more
Sleep is critical to performance. Don’t just take my word for it though. Arguably the greatest basketball player (and athlete) of all time, LeBron James, spends $1.5 million on his health every year.
LeBron averaged just 55.6 games per season from the start of the 2018 / 2019 season to the end of the 2022 / 2023 season. It’s not a coincidence. LeBron focuses on his health first by managing his load throughout the season. This means that, at the age of 39, he can still deliver league-leading performances when it matters.
When to prioritise performance over health
There are moments when it is beneficial to ignore the words you’ve just read and treat your body like a rental Lamborghini on a track day.
That is ONLY when performance is paramount.
I live this whenever I compete in my sport or running races. On April 7th 2024, I raced in the Southampton Half Marathon. For the 16-week training programme, health was my top priority. However, on race day, I fuelled my body to prioritise performance with energy gels, sugary drinks and foods, and everything I could do to get me through 13.1 miles in record time.
This may not be the healthiest option if I were to do this consistently - that’s why it’s ok to “treat your body like a rental” when it matters.
Recap
The connection between health and performance should not be underestimated.
Whether you're an elite athlete or someone who never hits the gym, good health is the foundation for a better life. Health should come first, and factors like sleep, stress, and nutrition all contribute to your overall health.
Sources
[The Wisconsin Upper Respiratory Symptom Survey is responsive, reliable, and valid - PMC](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7119015/#:~:text=A Jackson score is based,headache%2C chilliness%2C and malaise.)
Nutrition and Athlete Immune Health: New Perspectives on an Old Paradigm - PMC
Cohen S, Doyle WJ, Alper CM, Janicki-Deverts D, Turner RB. Sleep habits and susceptibility to the common cold. Arch Intern Med. 2009 Jan 12;169(1):62-7. doi: 10.1001/archinternmed.2008.505. PMID: 19139325; PMCID: PMC2629403.
