Posts Tagged ‘stretching’
Long Term
Thinking long-term has become a key component guiding my choices in pursuing a rewarding, healthy lifestyle. In line with my desire to invert pyramids of dysfunction, I look at unhealthy practices and consider the results of not just ending bad habits but replacing them with something helpful.
Specifically, I like to pay attention to the types of behavior that are known to contribute to problems over time. An unhealthy diet is pretty straightforward in this regard. Eating a serving of anything that is obviously unhealthy won’t kill a person but if they did that for years, negative outcomes result.
Seems logical to avoid a prolonged habit of eating poorly. So, take it a step further and replace unhealthy food with nutrition-dense food as a long-term habit.
A person who eats poorly doesn’t check the next day to see if they are less well. In the same way, a person who eats healthy food shouldn’t expect to become healthy in a day. Many people check their weight every day as a monitor of their health. Cyndie and I don’t own a scale. My weight gets checked whenever I have reason to visit the doctor.
My day-to-day weight fluctuations don’t concern me. In the same way, I don’t check my retirement account value every day. It’s the long-term trends that indicate how I’m doing against my goals.
Most people know that it’s good to avoid dehydration, but it is common for people to allow their hydration to regularly fluctuate. I tend to think it is more helpful to my body to consistently function at a healthy level of hydration. What’s the worst that could happen if I’m wrong ten years down the road?
You might think my kidneys would get worn out but my practice is beneficial to them in preventing stone-forming crystals from sticking together. One bout of kidney stones was enough for me. That pain was off my scale.
When I’m well-hydrated, I feel more confident about stretching my muscles. Do you stretch every day? Does your dog or cat stretch almost every time they get up after a long lie down? It’s fun watching the horses do cat-like stretches.
I’ve learned to be patient and allow my body time to process a thorough stretch. It always strikes me as surprising that each time I prepare to stretch, I discover that my body has returned to the same limits of movement as the day before.
When I lay flat on my back and bend at the waist to lift my legs with my knees locked and bring my feet as far as possible toward my face, the stopping point is always the same and surprisingly limited. Then I do a hamstring stretching routine. After I have stretched, I revisit that first exercise of lifting my legs with knees locked and my back flat against the floor to see how much closer my feet come toward my head. The change is dramatic.
What do you imagine the long-term impact might be of regularly stretching for the rest of a person’s life versus not stretching?
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Asher Digs
It is no surprise to learn that Asher digs after the scent of critters in the ground similar to the way our previous dog, Delilah did. Since the digging done by dogs is so destructive to our lawn areas, we spend a lot of energy discouraging digging in the grass. However, when on walks through the woods, I like to give a dog the chance to exercise their natural instinct. Yesterday, Asher plowed after something his nose told him was there.
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His efforts failed to produce any reward, but like Delilah many times before, that didn’t seem to matter. He just returned to the trail and we resumed our walk along the perimeter of our property.
Within a day or two of getting Asher home last week, Cyndie and I noticed he was adjusting to our regular routine more than we were changing our days to accommodate him. It’s another sign for me that he will be a good fit for the kind of pet we would like to have. After a bit of whining yesterday, he settled down for a good chunk of time in our outdoor kennel while we worked nearby. Cyndie was planting in her produce garden and I did my core strength and stretching exercises.
I recently read a recommendation that yoga routines can be enhanced by doing them outdoors and our philosophy of promoting the health benefits of forest bathing seemed to boost the idea doubly for me. This week I have moved my planking and stretching outside beneath the branches of two large trees. I’ve also made a change to the time of day I start, which doesn’t feel like it fits my routine yet but does offer a chance to linger in bed for a bit after waking. Slowly getting out of bed feels like a BIG luxury that suits me, even though working out first thing in the morning has always been my preference.
There are a few details I hadn’t considered when thinking it would be great to be outside. The mosquitos could become a problem and ants have already been a nuisance. The leaves aren’t completely opened yet so the sun was a little hard on my eyes yesterday. The ground not being perfectly flat is probably good in terms of adding difficulty for some balance routines but one particular bump interfered with keeping my back as flat as I wanted while stretching my hamstring muscles.
Speaking of new leaves opening up, I found this little specimen of baby oak leaves on the driveway beneath one of our biggest trees. They hardly got started and now it’s already over for them. That little sprig was about an inch across.
It’s sad to admit these brand-new leaves won’t even be missed. There won’t be a “bald spot” in the tree where they would have been. That tree will have more leaves than can be counted. At least we’ve given them worthy respect and have saved an image of them that will outlast all the rest of the leaves that survive them.
We are so very lucky to have all our trees. Looking up into the leaves when doing a cobra stretch is a great alternative to the ceiling of one of our rooms.
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Relative Something 