If you’re feeling stiff from working at a desk all day, take
just 60 seconds to reset your body with this quick routine.
As we all know by now, constant sitting leads to lack of mobility in the hips,
shoulders, and spine.
Luckily,
performing certain mobility exercises can help you to improve your posture, ease pain and stiffness,
and prevent future injuries like throwing out your back.
Getting
your mobility back doesn’t need to take long. In fact, you can do it in just
one minute with the right exercises.
Take
one minute out of your busy day to hack your mobility and reawaken your hips,
spine, and shoulders with these exercises. Perform each of these exercises
back-to-back whenever you’re feeling hunched and stiff, or if you know you have
a long day of sitting ahead of you.
Increase circulation to the hips, lower back, shoulders, and
spine with this easy mobility exercise.
1.Begin seated on the
floor or mat, with your knees bent and your feet on the floor.
2.Place your palms down
behind your hips to support you, keeping your shoulders and elbows relaxed.
3.Inhale to lower both
knees to the right. Then, exhale to press into your palms and lift your hips up
towards the sky as high as you can. You should feel a stretch in your hips and
shoulders.
4.Lower your hips down
and bring your knees back to center. Repeat in the other direction.
This exercise improves mobility by lengthening the hamstrings,
opening the hips, shoulders, and chest, and warming the spine.
1.Begin in a high plank
position with your shoulders stacked over your wrists and your hips in line
with your shoulders.
2.Exhale to lift your
hips high, bringing your body into an upside-down V-shape to come into your
down dog. Engage your abs.
3.Take an inhale to come
into cobra by slowly lowering your pelvis to the ground and then lifting your
chest up. Keep your shoulders down and bend your elbows more if your back feels
tight.
4.Exhale to use your abs
to lift back up to down dog. Alternate between down dog and cobra for a total
of five reps.
This exercise quickly increases mobility in your ankles, hips,
thoracic spine, and shoulders.
1.Begin standing with
your feet slightly wider than hip-width distance and your toes pointing
slightly outward.
2.Slowly sit your hips
all the way back and down towards the ground to come into a low squat position.
Bring your palms together in front of your heart and press your thighs open
with your arms.
3.Place your right hand
on your left shin, and inhale to twist your torso to the left. Lift your left
arm straight up and back.
Here’s
the perfect remedy to sitting all day. This bridge variation improves your
thoracic and hip mobility while also improving stability in the shoulders and
core.
1.Stay in a low squat
position. Lean back and place your right palm on the ground a couple of feet
behind your right hip, with your fingers facing away from your body.
2.Lean back into your
palm and lift your hips up so that you are in a tripod position. Your knees should be stacked over your ankles
and your shoulder stacked over your wrist.
3.Lift your hip bones up
towards the sky, keeping your right shoulder down and away from your ear. Reach
your left arm across your body to the right for a gentle spinal twist.
4.Lower your hips back
down to the ground, place your left palm down behind you, and switch sides.
Kelly is a certified
Personal Trainer with NASM, a Yoga Alliance Registered Yoga Teacher, and has
her B.S. in Kinesiology from San Diego State University. She is co-owner of
Roaming Yogi Adventures, a yoga and adventure-based retreat. She believes that
having fun and well-rounded exercise is the key to maximizing strength,
flexibility, and mental health.
A lot of people have
gotten results from the Keto diet, and enjoyed the foods that it has to offer.
However, many of the people who are following this diet have a hard time
finding the recipes that they need, especially ones that are quick and easy to
complete.
Fortunately, Kelsey
Ale, noticed this problem, and decided to do something about it. She’s found
that making recipes in a slow cooker gives you meals which are not only
delicious, but also take very little time to make. Mostly you just put a few
simple ingredients in the slow cooker, and let it do the rest.
But a study in the latest edition of the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease focuses on gut fungus instead of bacteria.
Gut bacteria have been blamed for a wide range of diseases, but fungi are also responsible for some, including ringworm, athlete’s foot, jock itch, oral thrush, candidiasis, vaginal yeast infections, diaper rash, and so on.
Bacteria are single-celled organisms with a simple cellular structure. Most fungi tend to be multicellular with complex cellular structures. Fungi include molds, yeast, mushrooms, and toadstools. And when you think of mushrooms, beer, and bread, you should know that many fungi are edible.
A University of British Columbia research team recruited 95 Parkinson’s patients and 57 healthy controls from the Pacific Parkinson’s Research Centre (PPRC) at the University of British Columbia.
The participants visited the hospital for two hours, during which they were examined and had their Parkinson’s symptoms evaluated.
They were also asked to provide a fecal sample for researchers to test for bacteria and fungi.
The researchers could not find any differences between the types of fungi in the fecal samples of the Parkinson’s patients and the healthy controls, showing that gut fungi probably do not play a role in Parkinson’s disease.
They could also find no relationship between gut fungi and motor, cognitive, or gastrointestinal symptoms in their participants.
The only difference they could find was that the Parkinson’s patients had a lot less fungi relative to bacteria than the healthy controls did, suggesting that the intestines of people with Parkinson’s are not hospitable places for fungi.
In general, they found very little fungi in their subjects’ fecal samples, which probably means that—unlike the case with bacteria—our intestines are generally not good places for fungi to flourish.
The little fungi that they could detect were harmless ones from the environment and from their subjects’ diets. Unsurprisingly, the most common genus detected was Saccharomyces, which is basically the category into which brewer’s and baker’s yeasts fall.
This study is important because it shows that scientists should pursue other lines of research to find out how Parkinson’s happens.
Stop or Even Reverse the Progression of Parkinson’s – Is Parkinson’s Disease Caused by High IQ?
Many previous studies have found a relationship between high education levels or complex occupations and Parkinson’s disease.
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Since high-IQ people are often the ones that spend years in higher education and perform complex jobs, a study in the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease has now investigated whether high IQ and Parkinson’s disease are related.
So is your high IQ the cause of your Parkinson’s Disease? Learn the answer in today’s article…
Scientists have known for a while that people with highly complex jobs, either with data or with people, are more likely than the rest of the population to develop Parkinson’s disease.
These include medical and legal service providers, teachers, farmers, and those who work in social sciences.
Almost all of these jobs require higher study, so it makes sense that researchers have also found a relationship between higher education and Parkinson’s.
But it is not that simple. Science has also established that people who do almost all of their work outdoors have a smaller risk of Parkinson’s. These include some pretty well-qualified scientists who work in agriculture, horticulture, forestry, and fisheries.
So, it is not as simple as concluding that Parkinson’s is associated with education level. Neither is it quite true to say that Parkinson’s is related to complex jobs, as some of those outdoor jobs—with a low risk for Parkinson’s—are also complex.
Since education and occupational complexity can both be expected in people with a high IQ, a team of Swedish scientists hypothesized that IQ is actually related to Parkinson’s.
They retrieved IQ data from the Swedish Military Service Conscription Registry. These were men who enrolled in the Swedish military between 1968 and 1993, an impressive 1,189,134 of them.
They then used the Swedish National Patient Register and the Swedish Cause of Death Register to determine which of these men developed Parkinson’s later in life.
Incredibly, they discovered that the highest-IQ group was 35% more likely to develop Parkinson’s than the lowest-IQ group.
High scores in each of the IQ test categories—verbal, logical, visuospatial, and technical abilities—were all much more common in those who later developed Parkinson’s.
Why on earth would this be the case? The authors of this study didn’t have a clue, but they offered a few guesses.
It is possible that high-IQ individuals are attracted to jobs that expose them to toxins that existing studies have associated with Parkinson’s disease. Think of scientists that work with plants, animals, and chemicals, for example.
Other high-IQ people may choose jobs like teachers and doctors that expose them to infections that are possibly related to Parkinson’s.
Furthermore, high-IQ people may choose sedentary jobs—such as statisticians, computer programmers, and librarians—that place them at risk of Parkinson’s.
It is possible that, considering all the lifestyle choices of high-IQ individuals, they tend to make decisions that predispose them to Parkinson’s, although this will have to be confirmed by future research.
Stop or Even Reverse the Progression of Parkinson’s – Parkinson’s Surprising Deadly Consequences
Although people with Parkinson’s disease experience enormous impacts on their lives, they generally have the same life expectancy as people without Parkinson’s.
However, a new study published in JAMA Psychiatry reveals the terrifying and lethal consequences of Parkinson’s.
It can, however, be avoided if addressed properly.
A research team led by the Taipei City Hospital in Taiwan identified 35,891 Taiwanese adults who had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease between 2002 and 2016. The researchers followed these patients through 2016 to see who would develop depression and/or commit suicide.
For each participant, they identified four healthy people without Parkinson’s matched by age and sex from the general population to serve as a comparison group.
Overall, 300 of the Parkinson’s disease sufferers versus 151 of the healthy subjects committed suicide during the follow-up period. This translates to 66.6 per 100,000 people among Parkinson’s patients and 32.3 per 100,000 people in the control group.
Thus, people with Parkinson’s disease are 2.1 times more likely than people without this disease to commit suicide, after other possible factors (dementia, socioeconomic position, and other medical conditions) are excluded.
Compared with the healthy subjects who committed suicide, the Parkinson’s patients who did so were a bit younger on average (74 versus 76 years), demonstrating how Parkinson’s can rob people of life.
The obvious connection between Parkinson’s and suicide is depression, but only 10% of Parkinson’s patients who killed themselves actually suffered from depression. In other words, Parkinson’s itself increases suicide risk, even without depression.
When mental disorders like depression and anxiety disorders were excluded from the analysis, those with Parkinson’s were still 90% more likely to commit suicide than those without it.
The researchers suggest that social connectedness, mental health interventions, and home safety analyses should be included in Parkinson’s treatments to try to reduce suicides.
This post is from the Parkinson’s Protocol Program created by naturopath and health researcher, Jodi Knapp, to help you diagnose and treat Parkinson’s naturally and permanently. The Parkinson’s Protocol is a comprehensive program that teaches you simple ways to reduce your symptoms, slow down the progression of Parkinson’s and repair the effects it has had on your body.
The Parkinson’s Protocol Program has a four-part series (consists of 12 simple steps) that comes with an abundance of valuable information that teaches you the relation between dopamine and Parkinson’s, the different treatment options, causes, and more. It then provides you with easy, step-by-step instructions that allow you to improve your brain health to begin delaying Parkinson’s and healing the brain within. To find out more about this program, click on Stop or Even Reverse the Progression of Parkinson’s
Most people wake up each morning with a crazy day scheduled and a to-do list longer than their arm. It’s easy to neglect self-care in a rushed and busy morning but taking time for yourself each morning is important for many reasons.
A great way to show yourself some self-love each morning is with this Morning Stretching Routine.
Creating a routine each morning to stretch is important for more than just peace of mind. Morning stretching can help improve flexibility, prevent aches and pains, and can get your blood flowing.
Increased Flexibility
The most common benefit of stretching is increased flexibility. With most people working at a desk these days, it is important to improve or at least maintain flexibility to stay healthy.
Sitting at a desk can cause certain muscles to loosen, such as back and glute muscles, while allowing other muscles, like chest and hip flexors to tighten. It’s important to open up these tight muscles to prevent injury, increase range of motion, and improve posture.
Prevent Aches and Pains
Morning stiffness is very common. After sleeping for 8 hours, fluid around the joints and spinal discs increases, creating joint discomfort and stiffness. Gentle stretching increases blood flow and helps move that fluid away from the joints, alleviating pain and stiffness.
A few minutes of stretching can also keep your spine supple and agile, preventing back pain. Muscles tightness, either from exercise the day before, or from your body’s sleeping position, can be alleviated by stretching and lengthening your muscles.
Increased Blood Flow
Gently stretching helps raise your body’s temperature by getting the blood flowing from the core of the body out to the extremities. Increasing blood flow helps circulation and delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the rest of your muscles and organs. Increasing circulation can also help improve and restore energy throughout the day.
Mental Clarity
With increased blood flow throughout the body your brain also has increased blood flow. This blood flow to the brain increases concentration and focus for the rest of the day. It also accelerates endorphins to the brain helping relieve stress and anxiety. Stretching can also help release mental tension and improve mental wellness.
Morning Stretch Routine
Instead of hitting snooze in the morning, wake up a few minutes earlier and get this short 5-10 minute stretch in to help start the day off right.
Neck Stretch – Tilt your head to the RIGHT, reaching your ear to your shoulder. Very gently, use your right hand to increase the stretch and reach your left palm towards the floor. Repeat on the LEFT side, and do a few neck circles to stretch the back of your neck as well.
Upper Back Release – Place your palms together and reach them in front. Slightly bow your chin to your chest and pull your shoulders away from each other to stretch between your shoulder blades.
Chest Release – Reach both arms behind you and and clasp your hands together. Pull your shoulders together and reach your arms up slightly to stretch your chest.
Forward Fold – Hinge from your hips and reach the crown of your head toward the floor. Cross your arms, or let them hang to the floor, and allow gravity to pull you deeper into the stretch. You should feel the stretch in the back of your legs and in your lower back.
Side Stretch – Stand with your feet hip distance apart, reach your arms overhead and grab on to your LEFT wrist with your RIGHT hand. Side bend towards the RIGHT, so that you feel a stretch through the left side of your body.
Cat/Cow – Starting on your hands and knees, tuck your chin towards your chest and round your back up to the ceiling, focusing on stretching and elongating your lower back. Flow through a neutral spine and slightly arch your spine pulling your shoulders away from your ears and focusing on stretching your upper back.
Seated Spinal Twist – Sit down and extend your RIGHT leg straight out in front of you. Cross your LEFT leg over the right and place your foot flat on the floor. Rotate your torso to the LEFT either grabbing on to your left leg, or hooking your elbow over your knee. Be sure to lengthen through your spine and keep your chest lifted.
Hamstring Stretch – Lay on your back and reach your RIGHT leg up to the ceiling, Grab behind your hamstring or calf depending on your flexibility. Keep your leg as straight as possible and your back and hips completely on the ground.
Hip Flexor Stretch – Start in a lunge position with your RIGHT leg in front and your LEFT knee on the floor. Keep your abs engaged so that you don’t arch your back. Slightly lean forward to increase the stretch in the front of your LEFT hip.
Cobra – Lay on your stomach with your elbows under your shoulders and your forearms and palms flat on the floor. Lift your head and your chest off the ground to stretch your upper back. You shouldn’t feel any discomfort or pressure in your lower back.
Tips for Morning Stretching
Keep stretches gentle – There is no need to get deeply into your stetches or force your stretches, your body has been at rest and has not been warmed up. Trying to force a stretch could cause injury.
Drink lots of water – After 8 hours of no water, it’s important to drink a large glass of water to help with circulation and the delivery of nutrients to the rest of the body.
Breath Deeply – Exhale into each stretch and take long deep breaths during the stretch. This will help you relax and will further help circulation.
Hold for at least 30 seconds – Hold each stretch for 30-60 seconds to help improve flexibility. Avoid bouncing and don’t rush into a stretch, ease into each stretch slowly.
Deanna is an ACE® certified personal trainer, Balanced Body® Pilates instructor, and NASM® Fitness Nutrition Specialist. She is passionate about inspiring others to lead a healthier lifestyle through fun workouts and healthy food. When she’s not creating new workouts and recipes for her blog The Live Fit Girls she enjoys running with her two dogs and traveling.
A lot of people have gotten results from the Keto diet, and enjoyed the foods that it has to offer. However, many of the people who are following this diet have a hard time finding the recipes that they need, especially ones that are quick and easy to complete.
Fortunately, Kelsey Ale, noticed this problem, and decided to do something about it. She’s found that making recipes in a slow cooker gives you meals which are not only delicious, but also take very little time to make. Mostly you just put a few simple ingredients in the slow cooker, and let it do the rest.
I’m sure you were always told growing to “sit up straight,” or
“stop slouching”. Well, your mother and teachers weren’t wrong. However, there
is much more to posture than just looking better.
Posture has an effect on your overall health and
well-being. Posture can
affect your mood, confidence, and even your memory and digestion. Learning good
posture and improving your posture can make all the difference in your day to
day activities, mental and physical wellness, and how others perceive you.
How Posture Affects
Different Areas of your Life
Mood
Improving
your posture will not only help you look more confident, but actually make you
feel more confident and improve your mood.
Dr.
Erik Peper, of San Francisco State University, performed various
different experiments
involving posture and
how it affects energy level as well as its ability to generate positive and
negative thoughts.
In
one experiment, his test subjects either skipped down a hallway or slouched as
they walked down the hall. Almost all of the skipping participants reported
feeling more energetic and happier, while those who had slouched reported
feeling sad, lonely, and sleepy.
Poor
posture has also had a strong correlation to feelings of stress and depression.
Memory
In
his experiments, Peper also discovered that body posture can either recall
positive or negative memories. When sitting in a collapsed position and looking
downward, participants in a study found it much easier to recall helpless,
powerless, and negative memories.
When
sitting upright and looking upward, it was easier to recall empowering and
positive memories. An upright posture can also improve memory
in general.
Good
posture facilitates breathing and increases blood flow and oxygen to the brain,
by up to 40 percent. Oxygen is like food for your brain, and when well-fed, it
functions properly and recalls memory better.
Confidence
Besides
your mood and your memory, good posture can also improve your confidence. A study at Ohio State
University found
that sitting up straight reinforced confidence.
In
this study, researchers divided students into two groups and instructed them to
maintain opposite postures while answering prompts in a business questionnaire.
Those
who were told to sit up straight were overwhelmingly more confident in their
thoughts concerning whether they were qualified for a job than those told to
slouch in their seat.
This
suggests that people’s thoughts are influenced by their posture, it’s similar
to the “fake it until you make it” principle, in that you can convince yourself
to have more confidence just in the way you hold yourself.
Digestion
Standing
and sitting with good posture allows your internal organs to assume their
natural position, allowing the natural flow and function of your
gastrointestinal tract.
“When
you sit in a crunched position, your intestines are folded up as well, and that
slows everything down.” says Steven Weiniger, author of Stand Taller – Live Longer.
To
improve digestion it’s best to sit and stand up straight, as well as get up and
move around as much as possible.
Bones & Muscles
Proper
alignment and good posture puts less stress on your spine and skeletal system.
Your skeletal system is built to support your body mass as intended, which
means in proper alignment. When in good posture, your bones are able to work
properly, which helps keep them strong and healthy.
When
you are in poor posture it puts stress on certain bones, muscles, and
ligaments. Your muscles start doing a majority of the work which starts to pull
at them and cause muscle imbalances.
When
your muscles are doing most of the work, your bones will start to become
weaker, and this can eventually lead to muscle pain, back pain, and can even
contribute to osteoporosis.
Headaches
Tying
in to strain on bones and muscles, poor posture can eventually lead to headaches. Most
people, especially those working at desks, have a “forward head posture,”
focusing that strain on their upper back and neck muscles.
Dr.
Adalbert I. Kapandji,
an orthopedic surgeon, states that to keep your head upright these muscles must
work as though they are supporting an additional ten pounds of weight for every
inch your head moves forward.
The
added strain puts pressure on the nerves in your neck and keeps upper back and
neck muscles in a constant state of contraction, causing tension headaches.
What Contributes To Bad
Posture?
Many
factors can contribute to poor posture. These can include obesity,
pregnancy, high-heeled shoes, tight-fitting clothes, weak muscles, tight
muscles, inflexibility, poor sitting and standing habits, and a poor work
environment.
Carrying
something heavy on one side of the body, like a heavy briefcase or purse, can
also contribute to bad posture.
Sleeping
on a mattress that doesn’t provide proper back support can also affect poor
posture.
How to Stand with Good
Posture
·Hold
your head up straight with your chin in.
·Ensure
that your earlobes are in line with the middle of your shoulders.
·Keep
your shoulders back.
·Push
your chest out, slightly.
·Keep
your knees straight, but not locked.
·Stretch
the top of your head toward the ceiling.
·Engage
your abdominals, but don’t suck in or tilt your pelvis.
·Carry
your weight equally between the balls and heels of your feet.
·Breathe
naturally.
Ways to Improve Posture
1. Exercise
Focus
on stretching tightened muscles in the chest, front of the shoulders, and hip
flexors (front of the hips) as well as strengthening back, abdominal, and glute
muscles.
Be
sure to look at this Morning
Stretch Routine to help guide you on stretches to do each morning and
even throughout the day to help combat sitting for extended periods of time.
Find a workout below that’s geared toward strengthening the muscles need for
correct posture.
2. Foam Roll
Foam rolling, or myofascial release, is
becoming much more popular, and for good reason. It is essentially like a deep
tissue massage for your muscles. This is important because it allows tight
muscles and fascia to loosen up so that stretching those muscles becomes easier.
If
you have formed bad posture of years and years of bad habit, it may be very
challenging to correct it without release those over worked and tight muscles.
3. Ergonomics
Ergonomics
involves changing your environment to support and encourage good posture.
Adding lumbar support to your chair is a good example, or even invest in a
standing desk. You could also modify a tool, work station, counter height, or
task to improve its ergonomics.
4. Eliminate Bad Habits
You
must first be conscious of these bad habits, but things such as slouching in a
chair or reading while laying down are some places to start. Working under dim
light is also one, it results is craning your head forward to see your work
better as well as slouching. Even driving your car in a bad position can help
contribute to poor posture.
Posture Workout
These
exercises are geared towards strengthening the muscles of your upper back and
rear shoulder muscles. It’s best to foam roll and lightly stretch tight muscles
before starting this workout.
Complete
this workout 2-3 times to help improve posture. (Watch a video demo of each
exercise by clicking on the names of each exercise)
Starting
on all fours, make sure your weight is even between your hands and knees.
Engage your abdominals and lengthen through the crown of your head. Slowly, and
with control, extend your RIGHT arm in front of you and your LEFT leg behind
you. Try not to shift your weight too much and come back to the starting
position. Repeat on the opposite side. Complete 10 repetitions on each side.
Lay
on your stomach and rest your forehead on your hands so that your elbows are
out to the side. Keeping your head glued to your hands, lift your upper body
and your feet and legs off the ground a few inches.
It’s
important to remember that you want to think about lengthening through your
muscles and to keep your abs engaged. You don’t need to lift too high and you
shouldn’t feel any compression in your lower back. Complete 10-15 repetitions.
Grab
a set of dumbbells relative to your strength. Hold the dumbbells in front of
you, with your palms facing you. Hinge at your hips, making sure to keep your
back straight. Hold your abs tight and pull the weights up towards your
underarm.
Squeeze
your shoulder blades together without tensing through your neck, and slowly
lower your arms back down. Repeat for 15 repetitions.
Lower
back into your hinge position, keeping your back straight. This time, have your
palms facing each other and a slight bend in your elbows. Moving from the back
of your shoulders, squeeze your shoulder blades together to lift the weights
out to the side. With control lower back down and repeat 15 times.
Deanna is an ACE®
certified personal trainer, Balanced Body® Pilates instructor, and NASM®
Fitness Nutrition Specialist. She is passionate about inspiring others to lead
a healthier lifestyle through fun workouts and healthy food. When she’s not
creating new workouts and recipes for her blog The Live Fit Girls she enjoys running with her two dogs and traveling.
A lot of people have
gotten results from the Keto diet, and enjoyed the foods that it has to offer.
However, many of the people who are following this diet have a hard time
finding the recipes that they need, especially ones that are quick and easy to
complete.
Fortunately, Kelsey
Ale, noticed this problem, and decided to do something about it. She’s found
that making recipes in a slow cooker gives you meals which are not only
delicious, but also take very little time to make. Mostly you just put a few
simple ingredients in the slow cooker, and let it do the rest.