Athletes must protect their immune systems in Olympic bubble

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics is five days away and the excitement is filling the air and social media platforms.

No matter what adversity humans face, there is no more special moment in most athletes’ careers than to compete against the very best of the best and to showcase to the world the height of human achievement, superiority and physical advancements.

The big elephant in the room is, how is Tokyo going to manage 11 000 Olympics and 4 000 Paralympic athletes from 206 different countries alongside 41 000 coaches, judges and officials?

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The Olympics will be contested in a bubble and health, hygiene and strict covid protocols are top proprieties for organisers. Competitors have been told to wear masks nearly all the time except while eating, sleeping or competing.

Each competitor will have their own towel and water bottle and sharing is not permitted.

Three quarters of the competitors are expected to be vaccinated before the opening ceremony on Friday.

Organisers have set up a “fever clinic” away from the Olympic village to deal with Covid cases.

The idea of a bubble is to make sure that those within it are in not in contact with people from outside the bubble and therefore no fans will be allowed into the stadiums.

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Given that it could be a once in a lifetime event for many competitors, what other factors can athletes control to make sure their immune systems are at their strongest?

Minimise stress

Stress is the biggest factor that causes athletes to fall ill, and this is due to the body releasing a flood of stress hormones which include cortisol and adrenaline, which elevates the body for an emergency action such as a fight or flight response.

Your body prepares itself by elevating your heart rate, tightens muscles, increases blood pressure, increases breath and all your senses become heightened. This is what happens to most competitors before a big race, but when this is a daily and constant event, the body is in a total state of understanding and your body works twice as hard to bring itself back into a harmonious state of balance.

The more you stress, the more the body’s immune system is weakened and becomes susceptible to infections.

Variety of nutrition

This goes without saying and competitors have their diets fine-tuned, but it is important to acknowledge the importance of eating a variety of different foods rich in micro and macro nutrients, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

Each nutrient plays a vital role in cellular functioning and allows the body to perform and repair and fight off invaders such as colds and flu.

Food that helps your immune system includes blueberries, dark chocolate, turmeric, oily fish, broccoli, sweet potato, spinach, ginger, garlic, green tea, kefir, sunflower seeds, almonds, oranges and red bell peppers.

Personal hygiene

This should also go without saying but it is important to bring it up. Athletes need to take extra care in making sure their hands are cleaned by washing or using a 70% alcohol sanitising spray, especially when touching various surfaces.

Athletes need to make sure they shower after training and their clothes are not left in a bag where potential germs can grow and manifest.

When it comes to the biggest event of your career, you can’t afford to get sick and miss the opportunity, so go the extra mile to make sure you are in control of your environment by mitigating the potential risk factors.

Sleep is king

Breaking records at the Olympics depends on a multitude of factors and two very essential elements are being in control of your mental and physical states. It is essential to have a good sleep strategy in place which allows for performance success, a strong immune system and longevity of career.

Sleep helps to regulate body hormones, heart rate and temperature. It improves mood, critical thinking, decision-making and reduces irrational emotional behaviour. It also improves focus, decreases stress level and allows you to deal with a higher pain threshold.

Competing athletes should have power naps during the day as well as at least nine hours of sleep a day. A good strategy is to purchase a sleep tracker to help understand how many times a night you are restless and if you reach your critical sleep level.

The life of a professional athlete is not as easy as it looks and if you are there to take gold then you will be doing everything in your control to make sure you have the best chance of success.