Massage, Movement & Longevity
Some of you may be familiar with Darren Hardy. He is an American author, keynote speaker, and former publisher of Success magazine. Many folks know him as the author of the Compound Effect among other books. He also has a regular, inspiring and informative short daily video called Darren Daily. It covers all areas of success and life enhancement, enrichment ideas and techniques.
On a recent 6-part series, Darren outlined 6 different steps needed to promote longevity.
Yes, the first step is movement. We want to be moving these bodies, somehow or someway (almost any way) and doing it regularly and consistently, in order to have a chance for a longer life, avoiding the many negative physical ramifications from the lack of movement.
For many years now, one of the most consistent suggestions I’ve been making to my clients is to move their body. As many of us are well aware, we have become a sedentary society. While technology is wonderful in many ways, it is also a very seductive lure for many hours that are devoid of physical involvement – usually in a passive position that is structurally detrimental to what these bodies need to thrive.
So I invite you to pick the activity or activities of your choice that you can add in support of adding more movement into your daily life. Make it enjoyable! It doesn’t need to be extreme.
For me, for example, my go-to’s range from gentle stretches and working with weights in the morning (accompanied by one of my kitties who likes to join in); run-walks with my wife; a walk before bed; and more strenuous hikes at the weekend, all the way to the more extreme of cold water swimming that we’ve been engaging in for almost two years. All contribute to an enhanced sense of physical, mental, spiritual and overall wellbeing that is more than worth it.
I’m relating this in the hopes of helping inspire you to do something, almost anything, to move your body more. As we age, it’s probably one of the most important thing we can do for our physical well-being.
The bottom line: If you want better longevity, add movement to your day. And… why not have fun while you’re doing it? Motion is lotion!
Finally, there’s a lubricant that lines all our muscles called hyaluronic acid. It allows muscles to slide easily against one another. This lubricant tends to dry up and get brittle when the body doesn’t get some sort of movement.
Massage stimulates hyaluronic acid, helping to “emulsify it” so it spreads and distributes more easily and readily. This is an excellent reason to get a Massage, especially if you’re not able to add as much movement and circulation to your muscles and body as you would like to.
It may be just the time to get a Massage to add to the mix.
By Scott Patton
Professional Massage Therapist