Get Moving!

Dear Friends of Roscoe Chiropractic,

I hope everyone has been dug out of their homes and were able to find their vehicles after our little storm this week.  We're tough, though, right? Well, February has begun, with a bang and it is Heart Health Month. So in light of this we are collecting heart healthy oatmeal for our new patient specials. Remember if you refer someone you receive a $10 gift certificate to use on your next adjustment (if you aren't medicare, A/A or W/C) or supplies or supplements. So let your friends and family know to bring in $10 worth of oatmeal and they'll get their exam and x-rays for free (yea...unless they are medicare, A/A or W/C).  At the end of the month we take all the oatmeal over to the food pantry at Life Church. Feel free to donate any other items if you feel like it.

Well I had an unexpected day off this week and with the weather as it was, I have to say I didn't do much of anything. Winter makes it especially difficult to keep active, I can vouch for that. I wanted to share some information from an article out of To Your Health about how even a little activity can help keep you healthy when compared with a mainly sedentary lifestyle.  So many people believe that intense exercise is the only way to make a difference in their health. This isn't true. 

One thing many people don't know is that being inactive can be more dangerous to your health than smoking!  So lets look at what kind of activity can help.

Cardio  - Just making small changes to your lifestyle can have an enormous impact on health. It is recommended that you get in 30 minutes a day. The trick is that this 30 minutes does not have to be all at one time. You can break it down into 10 minutes three times a day. Also simple things like parking at the end of the parking lot and walking a little farther or taking the stairs will help achieve this goal as well. Even if you can't fit a full 30 minutes into your day the good news is you can make a difference with even 7 minutes of exercise a WEEK. Don't get super excited this means the exercise you do must be at a higher intensity. A study showed  that only 7 minutes of total exercise per week for two weeks improved insulin action. So the idea in this is that any movement is going to be helpful. Clearly the more the better.

Strength Training - Simple strength exercises with your body weight can be beneficial. The general recommendation is to do 8 to 10 exercises with 10 to 15 repetitions of each exercise.  This would include things like squats against a wall or a push up against the edge of a table. Start off small and work your way up to more difficult things. There is a common misconception that you have to lift heavy weights in order to see changes in their muscles. Research is showing that high repetition  with lower weight is as good, if not better than heavy lifting. So rejoice! Strength training is for everyone.

So now that we have this knowledge we can all be a little more active. Remember 30 minutes a day is ideal, but even as little as 7 minutes a week more than what you currently do, can be beneficial as well. Get up and get moving. :)

Everyone do your best to stay warm now that the blizzard is over and the deep freeze has set in. Think spring!

Take Care and Be Healthy!
Karla H.
Roscoe Chiropractic Centre