The Human Body Shop Health News
Fresh health content, news, and life-hacks written by Dr. Dan Zagst
02/18/2016
Your life-hack for the day:
Something I noticed this morning while driving to my office was the posture of people next to me at intersections (after all, I am a chiropractor). Every person I saw was hunched toward their steering wheel, not one of them had their head back in a neutral posture. We sit enough like this while at work/school in front of a computer, on our phones, eating, etc. If there is one time it’s easy to maintain a decent posture it’s while driving.
The next time you get into your car, try this:
Sit upright in your seat with your head resting against the headrest (it’s called that for a reason!) in what you would call “good posture”. Here’s the key part, adjust your rearview mirror so that you can see out the back window in this position. You’ll find you need to move it up. This simple little adjustment will now serve as a constant reminder to sit in an upright, relaxed posture. Every time you start to slouch forward, you won’t be able to see out the back window and it’ll remind you to sit upright and relax your head in a neutral position. It’ll be annoying at first, but overtime it will become natural and you will start to notice others sitting in bad posture. Even better still you’ll find less tension in your shoulders while driving and it’ll encourage better posture in other areas of your life!
Try it! Takes two seconds to do and it’s benefits will last longer than your car!
02/15/2016
How 2 minutes of exercise per week can change your life!
I always say “some exercise is better than no exercise”. When starting out, it doesn’t matter exactly how much you are doing, but that you are at least doing something.
A recent investigational study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society shows just that.
A group of elderly people (65 +) were put on a 6-week exercise program. The program consisted of the same workout twice a week throughout the length of the study.
The workout:
On a stationary bike, perform a 6 second max sprint. Rest a minimum of 1-minute or until HR drops below 120 BPM (whichever is longer), and repeat until you reach 1-minute of exercise (10 x 6-second sprints).
This equals a total of 2 minutes, or 120 seconds of intense exercise per week.
The results:
Not only did the participants find it became easier to perform normal daily activities (walking, getting out of chair, cleaning, etc), but their blood pressure dropped, and their overall sense of ability and mobility also improved.
2 MINUTES PER WEEK!
What is your excuse now?
This is High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) at its core. The quick burst of activity followed by temporary rest is actual less stressful on your cardiovascular system than a 30-minute slow paced jog, with more benefits. It doesn’t take much to start; it could be 6 – 10 seconds of max air squats, max pushups, max track sprint, max burpees, max driveway sprints, followed by a short rest, repeated for 1-2 minutes.
You don’t need expensive equipment to get started, but you need to start now!
*Prior to undertaking any exercise regimen, it’s important to discuss it with your doctor or trainer to ensure you are fit to begin and have no underlying limitations.*