Investing in your health
I want to talk about an investment you can begin to make today, which can lead to some significant short-term gains, and even more long-term returns. I’m not talking about some new meme stock scheme. I’m talking about investing in your health, wellness, and body.
I know that this sounds a little gimmicky and vague, but I have some very concrete ideas about how you can go about this. Let’s start with the actual investment; What do you need to sacrifice? Every investment, by its nature, requires an initial giving up of something. In this scenario, we are looking at giving time and money. If this is where I start to lose you, keep entertaining my thoughts a little longer. I understand there is not a lot of either commodity to go around. I have a marriage, kids, dogs, house, loans, work, etc too.
What I suggest is to put aside 5% of your earnings, and about 1 hour each week (I suggest you literally set up your paycheck to automatically put this money aside, and schedule the time into your calendar). What this will probably leave you is about a hundred to a few hundred dollars a month to invest in your health, and the time set aside to use it.
Research has shown that 3 times per week spending 15-20 minutes on injury prevention exercises has helped higher level athletes remain injury-free at higher rates. However, it’s important to seek expert guidance for a tailored program for efficiency and effectiveness. Now that you have a couple hundred dollars set aside, you can look for a couple sessions a month with a skilled physical therapist, personal trainer, massage therapist, or combination of different practitioners. With this method it’s worth considering an HSA as well, so you can use pre-tax money towards expenses and increase the spending power of that 5% savings (think of it as a 25% discount on all the services you purchase).
Besides feeling better and performing better at our pursuits in CrossFit, yoga, jiu-jitsu, running, pickleball...or working to prepare our body to begin participating in something new, you are now becoming less injury prone. This is where the long-term returns come in; where we get back what we invested, plus some.
According to a 2014 article published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, average costs for emergency department treatment of adult sports injuries range from $2,294 for sprains to $7,666 for a fracture in the arm. Depending on your insurance coverage this can be a significant out-of-pocket expense and may even be your full responsibility if you have not yet reached your deductible. To stay injury-free can save you thousands of dollars per year, not to mention the time for recovery and possible lost work.
If you still hear your mind running through all the barriers to a small time and money investment, I’ll leave you with this thought. Investing in yourself is not selfish. Keeping healthy to keep working, be more active and attentive with your family, teach your kids about self-discipline, and live longer and more independently helps everyone that you are trying to support as well.
If you are looking for a guide to start building a more resilient and healthier version of yourself, I would love to have you as a client. These are exactly the types of people who I want to work with. Feel free to continue to use the free resources Integrity PT shares, but I challenge you to make an appointment for a thorough evaluation and begin the process of concretely investing in your health.
