Get this, folks, Inside of your bod there are 230 joints and roughly 701 muscles. That’s 931 opportunities for movement! Think about your day. You get out of bed, ( I hope you stretch!) walk, stand, get dressed, brush your teeth, maybe drive your car walk a bit more and then go sit at a desk. Ok, so you’ve used joints and muscles in your legs, hips, feet, hands, back, mmm maybe a little bit, and then you are stationary for hours. Is this what you were built for? Actually that’s a hard “No.” Your body gets achy from too much sedentary time. It might gain weight or get dysfunctional even. Maybe you got a standing desk? Good move! Since “they” -meaning the medical community- now call sitting the “new smoking” -meaning it’s just as detrimental to your health- this should tell us that we need to keep moving these miraculous machines. My father has seen too many of his relatives move into assisted living facilities where suddenly their world becomes too small and much too sedentary. Previously active and vigorous people end up in wheelchairs. They decline cognitively and experience markedly rapid physical decline. This has saddened him and has inspired him, at the age of 87, to continue working out at his gym three times week. “Use it or lose it” is his life-enhancing motto and we should all take a page from his book of wisdom. You don’t have to be able to put your feet behind your head, be skinny or even do headstands to stay fit. Just walk, twist, lift some little weights, swim, bike, do sit-ups during TV commercials – whatever feels best to you. Challenge your body as much as your doctor says it’s ok to challenge. Give it a bit more today than it took yesterday. Just move. Every blessed day. Your body will thank you for it and probably last a bit longer and that’s really good news for everybody who likes having you on planet.
so many moving parts….