Engaging in regular physical activity plays a key role in supporting your body’s overall health and recovery. Movement helps boost energy, improve sleep quality, support stronger bones and muscles, reduce the risk of chronic diseases, enhance cardiovascular health, and positively impact your mental well-being.

To experience these benefits, it’s important to find a physical activity that brings you joy and doesn’t feel like a chore. If you aren’t sure where to start, here are a few suggestions:

• Yoga

• Hiking/Walking/Running

• Pilates

• Kickboxing

• Dancing

• Swimming

• Strength Training (Lifting Weights)

How much physical activity is recommended for adults?

Adults are encouraged to aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week—this could look like 30 minutes a day, five days a week. In addition, it’s recommended to include muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days each week.

It is important to remember: Any exercise is better than no exercise! Start small, listen to your body, and build from there.

Fueling our body with nutritious foods allows us to maintain our energy levels, support healthy immune function, promote bone and muscle health, manage weight, improve digestion, reduce risk of chronic diseases, support healthy aging, and increase the amount of high-quality sleep we receive every night.

To support these vital functions, it’s important to include a balance of essential macronutrients in your meals. These nutrients provide the building blocks your body needs to function at its best each day:

• Proteins: help repair and build your body’s tissues. It drives metabolic reactions, maintains pH and fluid balance, and keeps the immune system strong.

  • Examples: Eggs, nuts, fish, meat, lentils

• Carbohydrates: serve as the body's primary energy source, breaking down into glucose (sugar), which fuels cells, tissues, and organs.

  • Examples: Grains, bread, fruits

• Fats: play a crucial role in building cell membranes, nerve tissue, and hormones, and also help the body absorb certain vitamins

  • Examples: Nuts, avocados, eggs, oils, dressings, seeds

By being mindful of what you eat and ensuring your meals are balanced, you're taking an important step toward supporting your overall health and recovery. Remember, small, consistent choices add up over time—nourishing your body is one of the most powerful ways to care for yourself every day.

Sleep plays a vital role in our physical and mental recovery. It’s during sleep that our body repairs muscles and tissues, balances hormones, consolidates memories, and restores energy. Without enough high-quality rest, it's much harder to manage stress, focus during the day, or support overall wellness—especially during recovery.

To help you get the rest your body and mind need, here are some evidence-based sleep hygiene tips you can start implementing tonight:

• Keep your bedroom cool, quiet, and dark. Consider using blackout curtains, white noise machines, or earplugs to minimize disturbances.

• Avoid screens (phones, tablets, TVs) for at least one hour before bed. The blue light they emit disrupts melatonin production, which is essential for sleep.

• Avoid raising your body temperature in the 1–2 hours before bed. This includes hot showers, baths, and intense exercise, as they can delay the body’s natural cooling process that promotes sleep.

• Do not go to bed if you are not tired, as this can create anxiety surrounding sleep. Sleep hygiene experts recommend getting out of bed and going to another room if you don’t fall asleep within 20 minutes. The goal of this technique, called stimulus control, is to break the association of bed as a place of frustration and worry.

• Create a sleep routine and wind down each night with a calming activity such as reading, meditation, deep breathing, body scans, or gentle yoga. Aim to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day—even on weekends—to support your body’s natural rhythm.

• Try to reduce fluid intake after dinner to prevent frequent trips to the bathroom during the night.

• Do not consume caffeine late in the day (tea, coffee, pop, etc.). These should be avoided at least 6 hours prior to bedtime.

• Avoid going to bed hungry or too full. Heavy meals can lead to discomfort and indigestion, while going to bed hungry can cause restlessness. A light snack can help if needed.

• Avoid drinking alcohol before bed - While alcohol may make you feel drowsy at first, it disrupts the quality of your sleep and can lead to waking up more often during the night.

• Clear your mind by journaling or writing down your worries, to-do lists, or racing thoughts before bed can help reduce mental clutter and allow your mind to settle. This simple practice can be a powerful tool for stress reduction and improved sleep.

Start with one or two of these tips and build from there. Small changes can lead to better sleep, which in turn supports every part of your recovery journey.

Harvard Health is a website created and maintained by Harvard Medical School - featuring informative articles on a variety of health-related topics.

• Click here to view Harvard Health’s resources.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), is a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. They conduct thorough research and provide resources on a variety of health-related topics.

• Click here to review the Physical Wellness Toolkit.

• Click here to access the NIH health information page, where you can search a variety of topics.