On July 27, 2016, CBC News ran an article about, “Sitting 8 hours a day? An hour a day of physical activity could offset the health risks“. The article started with, “Office workers and others who sit for eight hours a day can avoid the health risks associated with that inactivity by doing an hour of physical activity a day, a new study suggests. The research team behind the study wanted to know if it was possible for people who sit all day at an office job to compensate for the harmful effects of that lack of activity by getting some exercise. In short, the answer is yes”.
A key message here, one that most do not know, is that movement is required to drive air, water and nutrients into our cells and wastes out. If that doesn’t happen, we develop disease on the cellular level. It’s a whole “rolling stone gathers no moss”, “if you’re green you grow, if you’re ripe you rot”, and “motion is life, life is motion” scenario. Most people don’t like exercise because it’s exercise! What they don’t realize is that it’s a fundamental to support function in the Healthy Body…if you don’t do it, you will start to go stagnant and almost literally “rot” from the inside out. When we move, and sometimes vigorously, we drive those nutrients into our cells and the wastes out allowing the cells, tissues, organs, glands, and our Healthy Body to survive.
No movement, no flow through the cells, they start to die and become dysfunctional.
The key message in our clinic, in my practice, is that function is our most valuable commodity. If our bodies do what they are designed and programmed to do, we’ll live a long time with good quality. Food and fitness, nutrients and movement, support that function. Sitting for long periods without variety or movement creates dysfunction…and no amount of healthy food can make up for that.
The best exercise is something people enjoy doing. It doesn’t have to be the gym in order to get what the Healthy Body needs. It can be gardening, walking, swimming, playing with their kids…just get moving!
The clinical aspect here is that sometimes, after years of not moving or of having a problem like a pain-based problem, people can’t move like they used to. Chiropractic care get them moving again, gets rid of their stagnant problems, and reinforces the habits in the nervous system that allow them to move more easily, regulate and control function in the Healthy Body. That kind of care effects everything right down to the cellular level and is tied into healthy movement.
