It’s no secret that keeping your body in the best possible condition is necessary for your mind to operate at its peak performance. Yet, somehow, poker players have a terrible reputation for taking this into account. This guide is aimed at those who are looking to make some changes to their lifestyle but aren’t sure where to start. It’s also true that many players actually know where they could do better, and a recap could spur them into action.
Healthy Body Healthy Mind
It’s a well-worn cliché, but still as true as the day it was first said. Keeping fit can work wonders with your cognitive abilities. It also doesn’t have to be such a chore. It’s worth clarifying at this point that this discussion is all about performing to your potential. Edges are hard to come by these days, and if you can improve your performance at the tables to any degree it’s surely worth considering. Getting fit is no substitute for studying theory, but when your results are starting to plateau it can give you a massive boost. And before you run for the hills, nobody is suggesting that you start training for the next Olympics or Mr Universe.
There probably isn’t another sport or game that has such a bad reputation for being so unhealthy. Sitting for prolonged periods of time has a drastic effect on your health, and that’s before we start on drinking and smoking while we play.
Physical activity is defined as anything we do to move our bodies. This is key to staving off fatigue. Your playing sessions don’t have to be very long before this starts to impact your game. The mechanics of this are via your cardiovascular system, where your blood transports oxygen around your body, including to your brain. The longer you remain inactive, the worse you will start to feel. The key to avoiding this effect for as long as possible is to partake in regular exercise so that your cardiovascular system is capable of maintaining quality blood flow at all times. This has been proven time and time again in peer-reviewed studies. As a side note, ignoring this principle puts you at risk of a plethora of major illnesses not covered in the scope of this article.
The dangers of smoking have already been well-covered over the last 40 years, but one aspect ties in directly here. The chemicals used in the manufacturer of cigarettes constrict your blood vessels which exacerbates the symptoms of poor cardiovascular health. The effects are so pronounced that simply by giving up the habit, you will reap more of a reward than what you will attain after many years of physical training.
While we’re talking about getting oxygen to the brain, you should know that it has been proven that exercise has been linked to the generation of new brain cells. New neurons are created at an increased rate with improved inter-connectivity to boot. There really isn’t a down-side to getting your heart and lungs into decent shape.
Being overweight is also a factor. If your heart has a lot more distance to pump your blood than it’s used to, then it will be inefficient. Keeping your bodyfat percentage to a respectable level – under 20% for men, 25% for women – will pay dividends.
Stress is another buzzword that we see thrown about so much in the modern world. The human species has evolved over millions of years only to find that in the last 40 we’re now spending our lives glued to a computer screen. It’s no surprise that so many illnesses are linked to this. Stress, while proven to be a killer if left untreated, will also negatively impact your cognitive function. Again, this is something which will kill your win rates if you don’t do something about it. Stress is manifested in both the body and the mind and can generally be avoided with a basic exercise regime. Poker has plenty of high pressure moments during a session which can make or break your results. You don’t want to be feeling anxious during those key decisions.
Finally, exercise helps your body to regulate hormones and neurotransmitters. These chemicals in your body essentially control how you feel from day-to-day. Anything you can do to prevent a lack of these chemicals will go a long way towards waking up every morning feeling great and ready to play. More on this in the nutrition section.
Nutrition – Getting the Right Fuel for Your Body
While physical fitness is crucial to getting the best out of your mind, without the right fuel your results are not going to be good at all. Even without taking into account any kind of physical training regime you simply aren’t going to feel good if you eat poorly.
A suitable diet consists not only of macronutrients, micronutrients, but also proper hydration and eating your food at the correct times. It is not enough to just cut down on your alcohol intake and avoid chocolate. You don’t need for forgo all your pleasures, but if you make a proper effort to get this right then you’re going to have to moderate your culinary vices.
There is not enough space here to provide a comprehensive overview of the topic, but with these pointers you will be able to make a start at improving your diet.
Regardless of your aims, any balanced diet consists of varying proportions of carbohydrates, protein, and fat. Carbohydrates are not essential to survive, but diets that do without them have their own set of issues.
Carbs: Carbs are categorised depending on how fast they release their energy. In short, the fast release type are the bad ones. A sudden rush of energy is always followed by a sharp crash which will lead to you feeling worse than you did before eating. Choosing slow-release carbs such as oats, brown rice and sweet potato will leave you with a much smoother energy curve over the day more conducive to playing long sessions.
Protein: While essential for metabolic processes, you don’t need to worry too much about hitting any targets as a poker player. Basically, the more intensive training you do, the higher the proportion protein should make up in your diet.
Fats: Fat has unfairly been given a bad reputation in recent decades. The reason being that it contains more calories per unit weight than carbs and protein. People were effectively lied to that fat would make them fat, which simply isn’t true. Fats are precursors for many chemicals in the body, such as hormones. People who actively avoid fat in their diet are at serious risk of deficiencies. One example is aimed at men past the age of 30 where testosterone begins to fall year-on-year. A lack of this hormone causes all kind of problems including a lack of mental sharpness. If your body is already struggling to cope, then a lack of fat in your diet will make a bad situation a lot worse.
How much of each macronutrient you need depends on the person and their fitness goals. There are plenty of resources out there to help you take your starting efforts to the next level. For now, we just want you to make a start.
Insulin
How this hormone works is much misunderstood. In layman’s terms, it shuttles the glycogen – energy from food – into your muscles to make it useable. People who struggle to manage their weight will benefit from avoiding large meals or fast-release carbs to prevent sharp insulin spikes. Having high insulin levels will fill your glycogen stores with the remainder being stored as fat.
This is a complicated subject but well worth researching. Insulin sensitivity decreases as we get older and is accelerated by constant spikes. Eventually this can lead to diabetes and a serious weight problem.
Final Thoughts
All these starter points are aimed at getting you to take your health and fitness more seriously. Sometimes all we need is a little prompting for added motivation. Modern culture is saturated with this information, but all the above points are enough to make a big difference. How far you decide to take it is another matter, but as poker players it’s always worth remembering that we are more at risk because of our lifestyle.
Featured image credits to https://veganliftz.com/
