Four Justifications for Supplement Use During the Covid-19 Pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected everyone, and many athletes rely on maintaining their health (and their gains) to compete. Here’s how to use supplements to maintain your health.

The majority of us have had to make significant changes to our lives as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Millions of people have made the transition from the office to working from home. Gyms have closed and reopened, only to close again in some cases. Many of us have developed a rapport with our local UberEats drivers.

Despite this adversity, people have maintained their fitness levels. At the moment, home workouts such as those found in BodyFit are at an all-time high in popularity. As people stock their home gyms, exercise equipment has frequently sold out.

As long as you’re still putting in the effort, it’s critical to maintain a healthy diet as well. For many of you, “diet” includes bodytechsupplements.com.au dietary supplements. Supplements are critical in four ways during this global pandemic

1. It Is Critical to Maintain Your Health

One of the most obvious challenges for athletes continues to be maintaining a healthy lifestyle. It makes no difference how hard you work in the gym if your body lacks the energy necessary to build muscle and strength. One way for home gym users to ensure they are doing everything possible for their health is to monitor their vitamin D intake.

Vitamin D is a critical component of the human immune system. For the majority of people, the primary source is the sun, as sunlight activates chemical pathways in the skin that can produce vitamin D. Unfortunately, being cooped up inside for extended periods of time suffocates those pathways.

This is especially true for those who live north of the 37th parallel, where sunlight is generally less intense—which is everyone in the northern United States and all of Europe! Supplementing with vitamin D can make a significant difference in terms of regaining control of your health and bridging the gap between you and all that sunlight you’re missing at home.

2. Supplements Can Help You Save Money During Tight Economic Times

Athletes, particularly bodybuilders, adhere to rigors dietary regimens (or at least they are supposed to). Each day, hitting specific macros requires a significant amount of time and energy to purchase, prep, cook, and consume all of the nutrients necessary to achieve that physique.

Supplements are ideal for bridging nutritional gaps created by limited budgets. Are you having difficulty meeting your monthly grocery budget due to the abundance of chicken breasts you purchase? Substitute protein powder for the whey protein. Whey protein is significantly less expensive and easier to prepare per serving than casein protein.

Multivitamins are also beneficial for those who struggle to consume the variety of fruits and vegetables required to meet the recommended daily intakes for vitamins and minerals. While nothing can truly replace the nutrients obtained through a balanced diet, vitamins in supplement form are far superior to none at all.

3. The Spice Of Life Is Variety

With the majority of the country’s restaurants and eateries remaining closed or operating on limited hours, we’ve been left to our own devices when it comes to achieving variety in our diets. No more morning runs to the neighbourhood smoothie shop no more dinners at our favourite hole in the wall. For the time being, our food bubble has shrunk significantly. What remains is our ability to cook, and unfortunately, not everyone possesses the culinary mastery they desire.

Purchasing ingredients at the grocery store is only the first step towards consumption. Additionally, there is a great deal of work involved in preparing and cooking the food, which can be more difficult than it appears. If you believe your diet has become out of balance, supplements may be the answer—at least temporarily, until you learn to prepare your favourite meals.

4. Stress Could Be Worse Than You Believe

For many, being stressed is a natural state of affairs. We constantly put ourselves under temporary stress, whether it’s a big interview coming up, a blind date, or even a high-intensity workout. By and large, the human body does an excellent job of coping with stress via a variety of mechanisms. However, those internal defences can occasionally turn on us.

For instance, one of the primary responses of the body to stress is the release of cortisol, a catabolic hormone tasked with initiating the breakdown of stored energy. This translates into glycogen breakdown into glucose, muscle protein catabolism, and fatty acid oxidation, all of which have a negligible effect on the body in the short term.

They can, however, develop into serious problems over time. If you are constantly stressed, cortisol will be present, attempting to “assist.” Many people are at risk of chronically elevated cortisol as a result of the coronavirus pandemic’s persistently increased stress.

While increasing fatty acid oxidation may appear to be a good idea in the short term, the inability to store fats until they are needed is a major issue. Additionally, muscle protein breakdown is a concern for those attempting to increase strength and size. Even glycogen depletion can have a detrimental effect on an athlete’s ability to train at high intensities.

Fortunately, we’ve discovered that certain ingredients can assist in coping with these ongoing stresses. For instance, ashwagandha contains active ingredients called withanolides, which have been shown in numerous clinical trials to significantly reduce the body’s cortisol response to stress.