Now that the weather is turning and exercising outside is easier, I wanted to mention a few things about exercise. In this video (http://bit.ly/5mythsonexercise), Daniel Lieberman discusses 5 common myths about exercise.
And I’d like to follow up a bit on the points that he makes.
On Sitting
Daniel mentions that it’s actually sitting for long periods of time that is the problem. If we don’t at least fidget and get up once in a while, we’re not doing ourselves any favours.
Interestingly, we fidget or get up most often because of feedback from our bodies. We’ll feel stiff, tight, like we need to move and all of these signals rely on our ability to pay attention even if we’re super focused on work or whatever we’re also paying attention to.
We have a natural ability to move while we sit and it depends on neurological feedback and our ability to pay attention.
On Walking and losing weight
For many of us, our lives here in North America are designed to drive everywhere. When we’ve visited Europe in the past, Magdalena and I always remark on how good it feels to walk everywhere.
On Aging and exercise
Our bodies are designed to move no matter our age. The less we move, the closer we get to that lovely dirt nap that’s waiting for us.
On Arthritis and running
Running technique is a product of your biomechanics which is affected by your alignment and structure.
Pain and arthritis are not the same thing. Pain is often the result of poor alignment, not arthritis. I’ve seen many cases in the last 20+ years of people who have seen their arthritis on xrays yet don’t have pain because their alignment has been corrected.
On Sleep
It turns out that it’s not so much the amount of sleep you get but the quality of sleep that’s important. Factors that affect your quality of sleep include things like: the Autonomic Nervous system, especially how it relates to stress and monkey-mind; our use of blue light; our habits and our schedules.
Exercise in whatever form it takes is good for us on so many levels, including the immune system. So I hope you get out and enjoy this beautiful weather we’re having. I’ll see you out there!