We have receptors in our limbs like our feet, ankles, and calves that detect our body positions in space. These receptors then send this information via neurons to your brain. Your brain responds by sending instructions back out to your muscles on how to move and respond. The entire process is completed in milliseconds.
Toe-heel balance hold
These signals from the brain to the muscles of your legs and trunk keep you steady anytime you are upright and work overtime when you are on unsteady surfaces, such as ice. When you are on an unsteady surface, to keep your balance, your brain orchestrates tiny muscle micro-adjustments to counteract positions causing the unsteadiness. These quick balance adjustments keep us from falling over throughout the entire day. With age, the signal weakens from our feet, ankles, and legs back to our brain, which leads to increased falls in older adults.
Luckily, everyone can improve their micro-adjustment balance skills with stability training. Just standing on one ArcaRay is an excellent example of micro-adjustments to keep you balanced and upright. Even though you are only ½” above the ground, the balancing to stay onto the ArcaRay with your toe and heel up causes an incredible amount of micro-adjustments, making the exercise or the balancing act a total body exercise.
Posture Move: Chest Expansion
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What is a chest expansion?
Chest Expansion is a stretch of the chest and a strengthening of the upper back muscles.
Why should you do them?
Chest Expansion stretches will improve posture and prevent upper neck and back pain.
How to do a chest expansion?
- Standing tall with good posture, long neck, feet hip-distance apart. Extend your arms straight out and directly in front of you, palms together.
- Keeping your hands in this position, slowly pull your arms backward and to the side stretching your chest while squeezing your shoulder blades (upper back) together behind you.
- Return to the beginning position. Try again and slowly count 1, 2, 3 and until your arms are fully extended, and again count 1, 2, and 3 as you bring your hands back to the beginning position.
- Slowly counting to 3 on each movement will guarantee a great stretch of the chest and strengthening of the back.
Complete 3 sets of 6 repetitions. Each repetition is a 3-count out, 3-count in. Total of 18 repetitions. Complete 3 times per week.
Reducing your stress is just a breath away!
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“Relax, take a deep breath…” When frazzled we sometimes don’t wish to hear these words suggested by friends and family. Yet, this deep breathing advice is a proven tool to slow your breathing which is backed by science. Slowing your breathing can cause some beneficial changes in your physiological state. How? When stimulated by deep breathing, the vagus nerve triggers the release of various chemicals that can induce calm, and reduce stress throughout your body. The vagus nerve extends from our brain and branches into and influences numerous organs including your heart, liver, lungs, and kidney.
You don’t need formal or lengthy practice. Next time you feel yourself starting to get stressed, try this little process labeled STOP:
Stop or slow what you are doing
Take a few deep breaths
Observe how you are feeling. Invite calm.
Proceed.
Follow an Anti-Cancer Diet
“According to the National Cancer Institute, roughly 1/3 of all cancer deaths may be credited to our diets and bad lifestyle choices, including lack of exercise. Only about 10% of all cancers are purely genetic in origin over which you have much less control. So, in the vast majority of cases, YOU are very much in control of your destiny. This is GREAT news! Following an anti-cancer diet is not complicated at all. Basically, you just want to avoid the highly processed high-fat foods, (think chips, burgers, soda, candy). That doesn’t mean you can never have your favorite junk food, it means if you want to keep cancer at bay, use common sense and basically avoid the junk.
Positive Posture by ArcaRays
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Peter Geldner, MD recommends the Positive Posture neck enhancer. Renowned surgeon Dr. Peter Geldner of The Geldner Center states the Positive Posture tool improves your posture by quickly and easily strengthening your neck and back muscles. “I use it multiple times a week and have seen excellent improvement in my posture.”