Every movement, every action, our bodies work hard. The heart pumps 1,500 to 2,000 gallons every day; it never takes a break. The average pot holds 1.5 gallons of water, your car probably has about 15-30 gallons of gas give or take depending if you have a compact or SUV.
The lungs process on average 10,000 litres of air every day; that is over 300 Cubic feet of air. Every move you make utilizes an entire battery of muscles relaxing and contracting. Looking down at a laptop screen, by way of example, engages your front neck muscles (the SCMs) for hours on end; may I welcome you to headache world.
Western medicine has had the solution-based philosophy, often a pill, as a cure for everything. However, as technology accelerates our lives at an ever-increasing pace, it is critical to emphasize a new approach towards preventive care.
The body and its systems - Nervous, Integumentary, Musculoskeletal, Circulatory, Lymph, Respiratory, Digestive, Endocrine, Urinary and Reproductive - all function to keep the body alive and well. It is a robust system and yet very fragile. It does not take much to throw things out of that delicate balance.
Keep your life, and hence your body in balance. The old idiom 'Too Much of Anything is a BAD Thing' may have become cliche but the expression exists for a reason. Especially for Americans, I find, who enjoy the 'work hard, play hard' mentality, 'Too Much' is something we need to make use of as a battle-cry to bring about a more body-conscious style of living.
Take care of your body, the only one you have and took years to break in. When it breaks, it is not easy to fix; prevention is your best weapon.
E. Hon, LMT, MFA
