Let’s get moving
Movement is an essential part of our well-being.
It has been part of our lives since day one.
While I have no memory of being a baby and beginning to move my hands and feet, I know I learned how to crawl (backwards at first), walk, and then run as I explored the trees and the world around me on our farm. School sports like slow pitch, volleyball, gym classes and participating in gymnastics and track and field made my mother even busier since she had to drive me most everywhere. College and university provided less opportunity for movement but I did squeeze in some indoor soccer and a little recreational hockey.
Work took over my life eventually so any activity was saved for the weekends which were filled with golf – until my husband was bitten with the cycling bug. I felt tied to my desk or locked in a meeting room. The only movement I had was moving to get to those places. Yoga later became a useful tool to help manage my stress. It wasn’t until I left UBC that I began to see how I was missing certain types of movement like aerobic exercise. What made me think that? Well, I was visibly winded climbing stairs. I think I almost died hiking up a German mountain side. I could feel my heart begging me to move faster and harder.
As I wrote this out, I began to notice how I used examples of physical activity and exercise to describe most of my movement. Perhaps we all think about movement in that way and then feel like we aren’t doing enough. Or maybe we know we aren’t doing enough.
Today, I have a much broader perspective on movement. Thanks to Dr. Ellen Langer, I now see all movement as exercise. I will tell you more about that a little later.
I really want to explore movement in a number of ways. But today, I will stick to looking at the benefits of movement, the risks of not moving enough or too much, and how I think about movement.
Let’s start with the benefits of movement.
The benefits of movement
There is something about movement – particularly what others call exercise – which is incredibly beneficial. Dr. Tara Swart explains how “exercise not only energizes our body and brain, causing us to breathe more deeply, which oxygenates cells throughout our body, it has also been found to improve neuroplasticity itself.” She also notes additional benefits such as the decreased risk of developing dementia, increased brain agility, better higher brain functions such as emotional regulation and flexible thinking, and the ability to quickly switch between tasks – which is not to be confused with multitasking.
I can’t stress enough the importance of movement for emotional regulation and flexible thinking – for breaking through negative brain patterns, and helping us to create better ones. To expand on this, I’m going to share a quote from Dr. Assaf Yogev who shared his reflections on our most recent conversation:
“We spoke about fear being what causes you to stop and think about how you handle what's ahead, maybe something unknown. A challenge, if you will. From there, you can either retreat, tell yourself a story that you should be able to handle what's ahead, or be curious about whether you can take it head-on. If you choose the latter, you have not only allowed your natural curiosity to drive you into action, but you've also accepted the fact that you are afraid or challenged, and were honest about how it made you feel. Because of that, you proactively engage in the question of what you can do rather than what you should do or just give up altogether. Throughout this, stress was ever-present. It's not the fuel; it's the natural resistance of the path you're on. The gravity that always places its force on you. When fear or challenge is present, stress becomes more noticeable. Its mass doesn't change, but its weight increases. Because it's always present, one must remember that the toll we pay when handling life's fear/challenges, with either honesty or dishonesty, constantly raising and lowering the stress's weight, we will end up paying a price just for being in the process. Hence, recovery is needed. It is where you are able to reflect, learn, and grow from your own process, while stress is at its lowest weight. If recovery is done right, stress becomes almost unnoticeable, creating room for you to take on future challenges. In this context, stress is constant, fear/uncertainty is the unknown variable, genuine curiosity is our strongest lever, and if we lean on it, we move. But, this equation rests above our most important denominator, which is our ability to create space for growth through intentional recovery.”
Wasn’t that beautifully captured? I love how he mentioned intentional recovery as the most important denominator – which ties in nicely to last week’s post as well as a previous post on stress and today’s topic.
Now let’s look at the risks associated with not moving enough or moving too much.
The risks of not moving enough or too much
We all need to find the right amount of movement for us. It will vary depending on the individual so don’t compare yourself to anyone else, except to be curious about other possibilities. Just beware: The risks of not getting enough or too much movement are very real so we need to pay attention.
If we don’t move enough, we run the risk of:
Poor sleep quality
Mental and emotional health impacts
Poor cardiovascular health
Weight gain
Chronic disease
Loss of muscle mass & strength
On the flip side, we can also move too much. Those risks include:
Fatigue
Mental and emotional health impacts
Sore, tight muscles
Overuse injuries
Unintended weight loss
Do you see why it is important to keep moving and to find the right balance for ourselves? And then how even more important it is to take some restorative time after a lot of movement?
I wish I had known about this when I was still working at UBC. I always admired one of my colleagues who had unlocked her need to move – she surprised her male colleagues at a conference where she used breaks to head to the gym while they went to the bar or had a nap. I would have taken more walks at lunch, or for one-on-one meetings. I might have done a stair climb at Wreck Beach, or taken advantage of the neighbouring Pacific Spirit Park. Since I can’t change the past, I am glad I can make better decisions today!
Now that we know both the benefits and the risks of movement, I think it is also important to pay attention to how we think about movement (no pun intended).
How I think about movement
Dr. Ellen Langer has really pushed me to put more effort into how I think about everything – including how I move. Because how I think impacts my health: “...we can experience the benefits of improved health and decreased stress by mindfully perceiving control.”
The perception of control. A fascinating concept. That I can take control of my movement and my thoughts about my movement (among other things). That is why I tell myself today that every movement is exercise – and it is paying off.
But don’t just accept what I just told you. Let’s hear from an expert in the field.
Dr. Ellen Langer conducted an experiment with hotel chambermaids with her then student Alia Crum at Harvard University to study the effects of perception on physiology. Here is her story:
“While the work of chambermaids is physically strenuous, our participants did not see it as exercise because exercise was seen to happen before or after work. We wanted to know whether the work might have a different effect on their bodies if they conceived it as exercise. Participants were randomly divided into two groups, one given only general health information. The experimental group was taught that their work was exercise, comparing it to work on specific machines and exercises one finds in the gym. (Making a bed was like working on a rowing machine, while mopping provided a good upper body workout.) There were no discernable differences with respect to how hard or long the chambermaids worked nor what or how much they ate over the monthlong intervention. The only difference was whether they now believed their work was exercise. As a result of this change in mindset, the experimental group showed significant changes: They lost weight, their body mass index declined, their blood pressure came down, and their waist-to-hip ratio decreased.”
She encouraged us to think about movement positively, and to find types of movement which are enjoyable. It is for those reasons I stay away from running and soccer, but I love hiking, cycling and golf. One of these days I’m going to learn to dance.
There you have it – a little introduction into movement. Now you have some insight into why it is important and how you can think about it.
Of course, the next thing I want you to do is to actually get moving. Your choice of how you move. If you need a little inspiration, I loved this short scene in Garden State — a cult classic from 2004. Just be original.
Resources
Langer, Ellen. 2024. The Mindful Body: Thinking Our Way to Chronic Health. New York: Ballantine Group. pp. 52, 120.
Swart, Tara. 2019. The Source: The Secrets of the Universe, the Science of the Brain. HarperOne. p. 84.
Image by Tammy Brimner/TLBVelo Photography
