wellness tips

First of all, I owe you an apology. I have not been updating this blog or sending out my email newsletter in over a year.

The major reason is that in September of 2014 I started a 6 year program to become an osteopath. The volume of material we are responsible is huge, but I am loving it. And when I am done, I think I will be an amazing therapist. BUT because of that the blog and newsletter fell by the wayside.

I would like to start again to fulfill what I promised you. It won’t be weekly – the next two weekends I am in courses – but I will endeavour to send something at least once or twice a month that hopefully you will find informative and useful. If there are health topics you want me to discuss, please let me know.

Now on to your tip. You probably have already heard that sitting is the new smoking. We now know that sitting for prolonged periods of time is dangerous to our health, making us prone to blood clots, leading to embolisms, heart disease, and stroke. Prolonged sitting even seems to impact blood-sugar regulation, making us more prone to diabetes. Even if we do an hour of exercise a day, it does not erase 8 hours of sitting.

This isn’t great news since our world seems to be designed around sitting, and many of us sit at office jobs all day. So, what do we do? Is there anything that can counteract all that sitting?

The simplest solution is to set an alarm and get up out of your chair at least once every half-hour and walk around for at least 2 minutes. Much more impactful though, would be to get up, then lie all the way down on your yoga mat that is on the floor beside your desk, then stand up again, and repeat that 3 or 4 times. This will bump up the heart rate, and ensure great blood-flow through your entire body. Do this, and it will erase that half hour of sitting.

And the bonus is: if getting down onto and getting up from the floor is NOT easy for you, it will become easy for you, which will mean increased range of motion and strength, and therefore better ability to do many tasks of daily living!

If you live in the Vancouver Lower Mainland, come on out to our free seminar called “The 6 Movements You Should Be Able to Do”. Learn why being able to do these movements increases life enjoyment, test yourself to see how well you can actually do the movements, and learn how to get better at them! Please register at Eventbrite.

Please do keep the comments coming on my blog. If you want to share this article, scroll to the very bottom and click the “share” icon to post on Facebook, Twitter etc. If you want to subscribe or search for other posts by title or by topic, go to www.wellnesstips.ca.

Related Tips:
How many ways can you get up from the floor?

10 positions we should all find relaxing

Aviroop Biswas et al. Sedentary Time and Its Association With Risk for Disease Incidence, Mortality, and Hospitalization in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Ann Intern Med. 2015;162(2):123-132..