Training Matters: Recreation makes our community a better place to call home

By Ed Stiles on November 6, 2020.

Re-creation… the pursuit of a physical activity and or social engagement that helps re-create our present mental and physical state.

Getting lost in a game of hockey, pickleball or tennis, focusing on lifting a weight, the next Zumba step, the foot placement on a hike, paddling the river, x-country Skiing, riding a bike… all these pursuits allow us to put our work and life stresses aside and just be in the moment. That focus is the key to health.

Physiologically it dials down the sympathetic nervous system (the fight or flight response) clearing stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline that are unhealthy when chronically circulating.

Mentally the break that recreation provides allows us to escape our worries and clear our heads toward improved cognitive function.

Physically, recreation and physical activity improve the form and function of every system and organ of the body.

When gyms reopened back in June it was amazing how appreciative and thankful participants were to have the opportunity to re-create, and how much they acknowledged they had missed it.

The further we get from the lockdown, that honeymoon period has been forgotten. It is as if it never happened. And no matter how many mitigating protocols recreation centres have in place; reduced class sizes, substantially increased disinfection, limitations on spectators, etc., there remains a risk.

In fact, Ontario, New Brunswick and parts of Quebec have closed all fitness centres, as gyms are increasingly identified as super spreaders.

So, while recreation centres and gyms work their tails off to ensure we stick to recommendations from our health advisors I would ask people to remember that we are still in the thick of a global pandemic and “back to normal” is not here yet. Please have patience with the staff and the new ways of operating that we too struggle to work within to ensure patron safety as well as our own.

Recreation makes us better, let’s all do our part to ensure we can continue enjoying the benefits.

Ed Stiles BPE Clinical Exercise Physiologist is a member of the Alberta Sport Development Centre’s Performance Enhancement Team and is the Fitness Coordinator at the Family Leisure Centre, he can be reached via email at asdc@mhc.ab.ca or ed1sti@medicinehat.ca

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