Beth's Ponderings
“If you used your
head, you’d have saved your feet” is a saying that I heard a LOT
in my life.
Mainly, because mom
would give me a list of things to get from the basement, or another room, to
save HER feet from having to make the trip.
Invariably, something would be forgotten, or I’d get the wrong thing (even
though it was what she asked for) and I’d have to go back and get whatever was
missing. Instead of one trip, I’d end up
making three or four, before she was satisfied that I had gotten everything.
Now, all those
trips up and down stairs, and in and out of rooms, could have been saved, but
in the end they were healthier for me, because it is all the little incidental
movement you do during the day that helps keep you fit and active, not the once-a-week
fitness class or daily gym exercise.
While the fitness
class, or gym workout, does contribute to our health and wellbeing, and is
better than not being active at all, we get more of a workout - for both our
body and brain - walking from one room to another, or even across the room,
going up and down stairs, picking up items, reaching and bending, turning pages
in a physical book, standing up and sitting down, and other movements we make
countless times throughout our days.
Young children are
masters at incidental movement as they are always on the go, shifting and
moving throughout their day, in various ways.
Unfortunately, as a
society we tend to experience less and less of that incidental activity in our
daily round as we spend more time in vehicles, sitting at desks, microwaving
meals instead of making from scratch, binge watching TV/movies, swiping tablets/phones
and other sedentary activities.
An advantage of all
the incidental movement is that it helps with circulation, and the movement of
lymph, in our bodies, which helps strengthen our immune systems and keeping us
healthier. Something we could all
benefit from in the long run.
Beth
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