Physical and mental activities require varying degrees of energy, strength, and focus. Stamina and endurance are the terms used to describe your ability to exert these forces for an extended period of time.
When thinking about building stamina, most people picture long-distance runners or athletes playing a high-intensity sport. But there are plenty of normal, daily activities that require stamina and endurance too.
As anyone in their 80's can attest, walking up a flight of stairs requires strength and physical stamina. Even sitting down and reading a book requires focus and mental stamina.
Sex, too, requires a level of both physical and mental stamina. Poor stamina can lead to unsatisfying sexual experiences and might even contribute to issues like performance anxiety and erectile dysfunction. Lasting longer in bed sometimes has everything to do with your overall physical endurance.
Why Do I Have Low Stamina?
Stamina is an efficient way to measure your overall health. Having low stamina might suggest that you have a physical or mental condition that should be addressed.
For example, obesity is commonly associated with poor stamina and low endurance. One study assessing endurance levels in the workplace found that obese participants had roughly 40% less stamina than their average coworkers.
Not only can obesity lead to lower levels of stamina, but it can also contribute to sex-related issues too. Obesity has a strong association with erectile dysfunction, so not only can being overweight result in you not lasting during sex, it might also contribute to erectile difficulties in the first place.
Changing your diet and getting more exercise are two critical ways that you can boost your stamina and lose weight in the process.
What Exercises Can Increase Stamina?
Every person has a limit to what they can endure before they get tired and experience fatigue.
When you first start out with exercises like strength training or interval training, it won’t take long before you get tired. Results will take some time before you really start to notice them, but sticking with regular exercises will get you there.
The main kinds of exercise that impact your stamina are aerobic exercise that focuses on elevating your breathing and heart rate, thus helping to increase your cardiovascular endurance. These types of exercise are focused on your heart, lungs, and cardiovascular system, intended to increase the oxygen transported by your blood.
When your muscles are able to get more oxygen, they're able to last for longer periods of time under stress before they get fatigued.
Try to create a weekly routine consisting of at least four separate 40-minute sessions of moderately intense aerobic exercises a week. These exercises might include:
- Power walking, jogging, or running, which are forms of cardio
- Swimming or rowing
- Biking or cycling
- Walking uphill or upstairs
- Gardening, mowing grass, or raking leaves
- Dancing
- Yoga
- Playing basketball, tennis, volleyball, or other similar sports
What Foods Increase Stamina?
A balanced diet is an important part of your overall health, and diet plays a significant factor in stamina and sexual function as well. Along with sticking to your exercise routine, you may need to make a few changes to your diet to improve stamina.
Stamina-Boosting Foods To Include In Your Diet
It can’t be overstated how important your diet is to overall health. Your body gets all of the essential nutrients that it needs by digesting the food that you eat and breaking it down into key building blocks.
Eating food that has low nutritional value can have a negative impact on your health and stamina.
In order to boost stamina levels, you might eat more of the following foods:
- Avocados, nuts, dark chocolate, and fish oil are full of “healthy fats” that boost your energy levels, support cell growth, and protect your organs.
- Dairy, eggs, yogurt, poultry, and fatty fish have high levels of protein and amino acids and are good for building muscles and repairing them.
- Spinach and kale are loaded with iron, which helps to produce red blood cells that carry oxygen throughout your body. Eating plenty of vegetables, in general, is key.
- Bananas, apples, grapes, and strawberries are fruits that contain natural sugars that can boost energy levels. Bananas can also help replenish electrolytes.
- Beans, whole grains, oatmeal, brown breads and brown rice, quinoa, cereal, and sweet potatoes have a lot of carbs, fiber, and starches that can increase the amount of energy stored in your body.
- Caffeine can be a quick and effective way to stimulate your mental abilities and boost your physical stamina by disguising and reducing fatigue felt by your nervous system.
Foods To Avoid
Just like there are foods that can help boost your stamina, there are foods that can hurt stamina as well.
In general, you should avoid eating foods that are high in sodium, fat, and sugar as they can respectively lead to high blood pressure, clogged arteries, and diabetes. These physical conditions can lower your stamina, lead to obesity, and negatively impact sexual function.
Along with avoiding those foods, these are a few things that can drain your energy and lower stamina levels:
- Alcohol severely impacts blood circulation and your nervous system. Your muscles might not get enough oxygen through your blood, leading them to fatigue faster while your nervous system response slows down. This can lead to you feeling much more tired than usual when performing a routine activity, and it may also increase stress levels.
- Fried foods have a lot of fat, and many saturated fats can contribute to atherosclerosis, or hardening of arteries. Not only does the energy required to process fats lower stamina, but overly processed fatty foods also lead to packing on extra weight.
- Pasta has a lot of carbohydrates that are good for energy needs, but high-carb meals are typically heavy and might lead you to feel sluggish as your body digests. Try getting your carbs from lighter options or plan your carb intake hours in advance of activities that need stamina.
The Takeaway
Making a few changes to your diet and routinely exercising can help you to naturally boost stamina levels. That stamina is beneficial in day-to-day life – as well as in the bedroom.
Stamina is directly tied to your diet and the amount of exercise that you get. Eliminating unhealthy foods from your diet and replacing them with some of those listed above can help to boost stamina and deal with physical demands for longer periods of time. The results can especially be noticeable if you pair an improved diet with a workout routine based on aerobic exercise. These lifestyle changes can not only help you increase stamina and endurance, but they can also improve your overall health and enhance your sexual function.
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SOURCES
Stamina vs Endurance | Inspire Us Foundation
How Fit Are You? | Mayo Clinic
Obesity Linked To Low Endurance, Increased Fatigue In The Workplace | Science Daily.
Four Types Of Exercise Can Improve Your Health And Physical Ability | NIA
