2 Minute Movement Hack to Increase Energy, Focus and Brain Function
We are all very familiar with exercise. Going to a spin class for an hour, a boot camp for an hour or a yoga class for an hour. Yes, exercise is important, but have you ever considered movement?
What do I mean by movement? Assuming you are sleeping 8 hours a night, and 1 hour of exercise, how are you moving your body during the other 15 hours of your day?
When I ask my patients this question, I usually get a blank stare. Have no fear, movement is easier than you think and it can be darn fun too.
In a traditional day when there has to be some time driving or sitting behind a computer, I recommend for every hour you are sitting, to spend two minutes moving your body – ideally taking every joint in your body through a full range of motion.
Let’s start with the big joints of movement in the body; ankles, knees, hips, shoulders. Start by getting these joints moving, anyway you want! I personally like to dance around, but you can do it however you like.
If you like something a little more specific, here is a 2 minute movement hack for you to enjoy:
Stand up and shake your whole body then do:
5 squats
5 ankle rotations (while standing) to each side on each ankle (hold on to something if you need help with balance)
5 high knees on each side
5 hip rotations on each side (imagine you are stepping over something big to the side of you)
Stretch your arms in the air and take 5 belly breaths
Bring shoulders down and rotate forward for a count of 5
Rotate shoulders backwards for a count of 5
Rotate your body to the right as far as you can with your feet staying still
Rotate your body to the left as far as you can with your feet staying still
See.... Not too bad, you got this! This is just a sample way of doing this, you can mix it up and make it fun for you (cue: Whitney Houston, I Want To Dance with Somebody).
These should all be pain free movements, if any of these cause pain, please don’t do that specific movement. Also, you know, just throwing it out there, might be time to call your trusted chiropractor for a tune up.
Why? Why is this important? Ahhhh, I’m so glad you asked.
Circulation:
These types of movements encourage major circulation in your body, getting your blood and synovial fluid (fluid in the joints) pumping and moving. You know who likes circulation? Your joints. Imagine when you sit for too long, your joints become like a dried up sponge. Just a couple minutes of movement lubricates the joints. You can visualize it is like getting the sponge wet again. It only takes about 30 minutes of sitting to have a joint start to get dehydrated so move that body. Happy joints = Happy Humans.
Lymph Movement:
Lymph is the fluid in our body that helps get rid of toxins. Our lymph system only really moves when the muscles around the lymph system act like a pump. So pump, pump the lymph with consistent movement.
Proprioception:
Your magical 6th sense you didn’t know you had. Without going down too much of a geek out, this is essentially the map your brain has to know where your body is in space and in gravity when the visual field is taken away. It receives this information from receptors that are located around every joint in the body. Activating your proprioception is like giving the brain a big wakeup call and flooding it with feel good brain information, its good when your brain knows where your body is, don’t you think?
While the first couple times you interrupt your day to move your body, you might not notice too much. But over time, you are giving your body so many good things it needs (and in such a short time too), you’ll notice your energy, focus and brain function all improve. You’re playing the long game too, keep your joints healthy, your blood vessels pumping and keeping that lymph moving more frequently. You’re amazing.
Try it and let me know what you think.
One small step on your path to thriving,
Dr. Sydne
