by Judy Moon
Yes, you read that correctly.
I recently went to hear Dr. Northrup speak at a Hay House conference here in Philadelphia and that is exactly what she said. She has a great book out called Goddesses Never Age (no, we don’t) and she was talking about different things to do to slow down the aging process.
One of the things she was talking about was the increase in falling as we get older and how to decrease those chances of falling which decreases your chances of hip fractures. This can be prevented by developing good balance and you’ll be shocked when you see how easy it is to remedy.
When Astronauts get off the space shuttle, they walk like old people. It’s because they have lost their vestibular orientation to the horizon and they have been weightless. Guess what else weightlessness is – sitting and standing. It has the same effect on us as it does to the astronauts. It affects our balance. We need to move more through the gravitational pull of the earth.
So how do get our balance back?
Simple!
Start practicing standing on one leg. Go ahead, stand up and try it right now.
How did you do? Try the other leg?
Are you better at one leg than the other? Now try it with your eyes closed.
The goal is to work up to 30 seconds a leg.
You can do it while brushing your teeth, waiting for the teakettle to boil, looking at Facebook, reading your favorite blog Wellness Seeds – you get the picture. Most exercise we do is to develop the mobilizing muscles – quads, biceps, triceps, etc.
We want to focus on the stabilizing muscles, our core. We also want to get in the habit of standing up at least 6 times in an hour if you are working at a desk. Set a reminder. Do a few shoulder rolls for extra credit.
I was so blown away by the down side of sitting that I did a little more reading about it and I came across this cute little informative video. This gets more in to some of the other health risks of too much sitting.
Stand up and watch it and if you’re feeling sassy, stand on one leg.
