"The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg,

Thought of the week.
Whatever we practice  get get good at.  We become efficient, quick and proficient.   The things we practice becomes our default setting.  So the habit of the week's postural tips, really work if we really do practice.  It becomes our new normal.
Spread our dots,- that means expanding the triangle at the top of our chest framed by the imaginary dots at the front of our shoulders and the base of our sternum.. if we practice that 10 to 15 + times per day not only do we actually start to change our body, but we activate neural pathways,  those nerve muscle connections. The more we repeat the movement pattern,  the stronger those connections become.

However, take care. "Whatever we practice we get good at... " includes all our habits, "bad" habits, too. . Say, eating while watching TV, or biting your nails, smoking or whatever.   In "The Power of Habit"  Charles Duhigg outlines the simple ABC of a habit
A the stimulus
B the action
C the reward

Ouch, with this model, we need to figure out what ARE  the stimulus and reward are, for the nailbiting, smoking or the mindless eating. When we have cracked that little nut, then we can substitute another action in response to to the stimulus.

For example, 
A the stimulus  ... I feel lonely
B the action.     ..... I want to watch tv and eat
C the reward.   ...... a feeling of comfort.

This is a tough undertaking, and requires honesty,  when your strongly craving that reward, whatever that is, you are at the closest point to understanding the stimuls and therefore the action.

Charles Duhigg's "The Power of Habit" is well worth a read.

Draw the golden thread. Habit of the Week. - HOW

It's still too hot to seriously consider running around.  So this week's habit/homework is another posture shaper.
Draw the golden thread upwards.

Firstly you need to imagine a line the extends from the earth through the soles of our feet, up through our legs and body, finally through the crown of our head.  It needs to be a straight line.

Then by pulling upwards with thread, we not only improve the alignment of your body, neck and head, we lengthen.   This makes movements like  turning and twisting more easy. And, if we're lucky,  the more we move, the better we feel.
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An Extra Serve*

The New York Times reports that an extra serve of vegetables per day can reduce the risk of COPD**, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,  up to 8%. This has significance for current and former smokers.

That's a powerful statistic for us all.   I am not even a smoker, but I am telling everyone this story, so we can marvel at the healing power of veg. 

Vegetables are superfoods.

They feed our gut bacteria, who seem to be more important with every passing day.
Their fibre keeps us regular.
Vegies help us "eat the rainbow", thus reducing inflamation and maybe even our risk of cancer.
Eating our vegetables is good for the planet. Far fewer emissions of greenhouse gas is required to produce a carrot, than say,  a steak.
You can grow your own -  If you dont have a garden, you might have a patio, or a pot to grow herbs.  A day with parsley is a sad day, indeed.
Sprouts count too.  You don't need an acre to sprout a handful of mung beans.  They are nutrition dynamite.

I'm trying to "pimp"  my meals by increasing the amount of vegetables each evening. I am seeking to become a better cook of vegetarian meals.  I'm curious about good cuisine so when we go out, I'll order vegetarian. Do you have any great vegetarian recipes?

Breaking news!  I  just heard the statistic that on average an one third of the food consumed by Australians is processed food. Yikes!


* In Australian slang "to give someone a serve" means to scold or reprimand them. Ha

**COPD is a group of lung diseases that block airflow and make it difficult to breathe. According to the Mayo clinic
"Emphysema and chronic bronchitis are the most common conditions that make up COPD.  Damage to the lungs from COPD can't be reversed."

Move more, hospital less

Newcastle University has conducted an interesting study which shows that middle aged people can reduce their number days in hospital by walking a little extra.

Not even the famous 10,000 steps are required

Researchers showed in a commendabley long study that, in middle aged people,  increasing the number of steps per day from 4,500 to 8,300 hospital stays were reduced between 4% and 8%. And even 1000 extra steps were shown accrue some benefit.

The study was able to be carried out for such a long period of time that participants' data was collected after the first two years elapsed. This interval removed  any short term benefits from the exercise itself and so researchers were able to look at really long term benefits.

Yeah but!
And there's always a "but" the most benefit, naturally accrued to the least active person. It makes sense:- a marathon runner is not going to be benefitting in any meaningful way from a few thousand extra steps.

Every step counts - the good news

Walking out to the letterbox, going to class, even a gentle class is more than 3,000 steps. Also aqua aerobics counts. You can even sneak in a few steps while waiting for the bus, standing in one place,  just shift your weight from one foot to the other. No one will even notice.

Here's the rub. We can't afford not to exercise

Exercise trends come and go, exercise theories come and go, but the benefits are real and measurable for the individual and for society.