Poker & Your Health
A healthy body is a healthy mind and staying fit will help you play your A game on a more consistent basis. Keeping yourself fit with regular exercise can do wonders for your game. Many poker players fail to recognize the correlation between playing good poker, keeping fit and eating healthy. Poker games have drastically evolved in recent years. The game is not as easy to beat as it was during the Moneymaker boom era. But keeping fit and eating well can give you an edge over some of your opponents. If you have better energy levels and clearer focus, you'll naturally be able to reap the benefits of their mistakes at the tables.
Exercise
I'll be the first to admit that going to the gym is not my thing, I hate exercising when I'm not enjoying what I'm doing. Running on a treadmill is my idea of hell, I can't stand it! I find that when I'm playing sports or doing an activity I naturally love, exercising is not a chore. If you have the same mentality as me, and find that exercising is a grueling task. Try focus on finding an activity or sport that you naturally enjoy doing. Think of it as fooling yourself into doing some exercise and not this painstaking task that you might normally associate it with.
Eating Well
Exercise and a healthy diet go hand in hand. As poker players we tend to be suckers for the convenience food industry. Avoid fast food like the plague where possible, try and eat fresh fruit and veg as often as possible, your body and mind will thank you for this. Remember, you are what you eat!
Stop Smoking or Start Vaping Instead
I don't need to spell this one out for you. We're all well aware of the damage smoking cigarettes can cause to the human body, it's devastating. Smoking can affect your game in many ways, for starters, smokers tend to play fewer hands than their non-smoking counterparts, think of every cigarette break you've taken while playing. Have you ever wondered how many hands you've missed out on, all that volume adds up over time and could feasibly affect your bottom line. Everyone knows they need to quit smoking for the sake of their health, but talking about quitting and actually doing it are two very different things. For some giving up smoking is like a stroll in the park, for most of us, it's a highly stressful task.
Playing poker when attempting to quit smoking can be very tough. Obviously the best thing to do is quit smoking. But if you've had numerous failed attempts then you should consider the healthier alternative to smoking, vaping. Electronic cigarettes give smokers the same pleasure levels of smoking, only without all the harmful effects of combustion (smoking). Better yet, because they emit no odors, you won't need to go outside for that next cigarette break, so you won't miss out on all those hands anymore. The main benefit is of course to your health, ask anyone who has used an electronic cigarette, they'll all tell you how their health has vastly improved since switching to electronic cigarettes.
