Sherry is Precept Upon Precept Inductive Study trained leader.
She is the Women's Ministry Director and leads women’s bible studies at her church in Bellevue, Nebraska. Sherry also writes materials for and speaks at women’s retreats. She and her husband have recently relocated to the Midwest after living on the East Coast for fifteen years and enjoy spending weekends in Kansas at the family farm.
Essentrics can help you in so many ways…improved posture, relief from chronic pain, increased flexibility and range of motion, to name a few. Lowing blood pressure has not been listed.
Yet…
I have began to notice a pattern. If I complete a short Essentrics workout (15-30 minutes) and eat breakfast (a healthy one, of course), my blood pressure is lower (sys. number 10-15 points less) than if I get up and take my blood pressure before exercise and breakfast.
A fluke?
Maybe? So I started to research…
Although aerobic exercise is the most recommended mode of exercise for reducing blood pressure, a number of recent studies indicate that stretching can reduce arterial stiffness, improve blood flow, and increase activation of the parasympathetic nervous system, resulting in reduced blood pressure. When muscles are stretched, blood vessels are also stretched, and this may lead to structural changes in blood vessels or release of vasodilating metabolites. Such changes may result in the reduction of arterial stiffness, resistance to blood flow, and blood pressure.
If stretching helps reduce stiffness in our arteries, then we are going to want to stretch them all! Each Essentrics routine works the full body-every muscle and joint and all the arteries. So it is Essentrics for the lower blood pressure win!
A warning though the research did show if you stopped stretching the benefit of lower blood pressure did not last.
Try it
If you are struggling with high blood pressure, try this for a week. Find a 15-30 minute Essentrics workout on YouTube or do a Classical Stretch workout on PBS everyday, eat your breakfast, wait 30 minutes after eating and see if your blood pressure is lower. I would love to hear your results.
According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary an epidemic is a widespread occurrence “affecting or tending to affect a disproportionately large number of individuals within a population, community, or region at the same time”.
Poor posture is an epidemic that is affecting people throughout our society, both old and young alike. Not sure you agree, go out to where the people are and watch them stand, sit, and walk… you will quickly see that you are surrounded by people who have poor posture…maybe to include a glance in your mirror.
So okay…poor posture maybe an epidemic. But does it really matter…isn’t the rounding of the back-just a sign of old age? Or maybe the dropping of the head forward is a result of our “techy” society and the hours spent looking at a electronic devise and is no big deal??
The reality is that poor posture affects not just our appearance but also our health.
Poor posture can be reason for the neck and back pain you are experiencing. If you are sitting for hours in a slouched position (your back forms a C-shape) at a computer or in a soft chair, the difficulty you have breathing could be directly related to poor posture. Feeling down, a bit depressed or just have little energy, these could stem from your body being out of alignment because of poor posture.
Alright…poor posture can make us look old and can bring about pain throughout our body, so what can we do about it??
I thought you would never ask…
First, give yourself a checkup every day…a posture checkup that is.
Try this, stand with your heels a few inches from a wall and your bum touching the wall. Now slide your hand between your lower back and the wall. If there is a small gap (2 inches) great, but if there is quite a bit of space between your hand and your back, you probably need to work on your posture. Another place to check is your neck. Now, slide your hand between the wall and the back of your neck. Again, a small gap (2 inches) is no problem, but if your neck or the back of your head is several inches from the wall, you should be working to improve your posture.
Second, you may need to change your sitting habits…both how long you sit and the way you sit.
It is easy to let hours go by without getting up and walking around. Try setting an alarm to go off every 30 minutes or so. Then get up, walk a few feet, do a few stretches before you sit down again.
Next, look at the way you are sitting…are you slouching, is your back rounded, or your head hanging forward? This maybe comfortable for a while, but soon this poor posture will lead to pain in your back, hip, or neck or all three.
When you sit, try bending at your hips not your waist. Place your hips at the back of the chair seat (if it helps…picture you have a tail, you want it sticking out the back of the chair not sitting on it). By doing this your back, shoulders and neck will be in line, you will have better posture and be more comfortable.
Third, move more and be intentional.
By not moving, our posture will get worse, but just moving more will improve our posture. I am not talking about starting a new crazy exercise regime but building movement into your day. Park in the far end of the lot…forget a few things on purpose and do extra trips up and down the stairs…you get the idea.
Fourth, doing Essentrics daily can change your posture and your life (😊).
Throughout every Essentrics workout we emphasize good alignment from the feet up. Poor posture is a result of one or more joints being out of alignment. Positioning our feet correctly – toes facing forward, soles of your feet flat on the ground (not rolling in or out), will lead to full body realignment and better posture.
In Essentrics we cue “pulling up” of the spine and core, as well as, “pulling out” with our arms and legs. This helps to decompress tight and locked joints that can be the result of poor posture.
Maybe the best way practicing Essentrics can help you is by encouraging you to move in slow, gentle, RELAXED full body rotational movements that help return your joints to their natural range of motion.
If you want to enjoy life more and live with less pain…pay attention to your posture, sit well, move more, and do Essentrics!
There are many products on the market today that claim to do just that. But do they? Maybe…maybe not. But one thing that has been proven to help our immune systems…Essentrics (well…exercise in general).
“In general, exercising at a moderate to vigorous intensity for 60 minutes or less is optimal for the immune-boosting benefits of exercise. If you do this daily or almost daily, your immune and metabolic systems continue to strengthen, building on previous gains”.
First – Exercise Basics
As we do Essentrics (exercise) our heart rate increases, thereby pumping even more blood throughout our bodies. This also moves our lymph, that contains among other things white blood cells.
Next – How Exercising Help Our Immune System
Immune cells circulate on a consistent basis throughout the body. When we increase the movement of blood and lymph through exercise, we are increasing the movement of more immune cells from lymph nodes and the spleen into the bloodstream.
It is kinda like this: A store with one security camera would be limited to catching shoplifters from only that one location. But, a store with security guards that walk all around would be able to catch shoplifting at many different locations within the store, preventing more shoplifting because of an increased presence. Your immune system works in a similar manner.
Finally – The Benefit forOur Immune System
Exercising promotes the movement of the immune system via white blood cells to more locations where viruses and bacteria can be identified.
Not only does Essentrics (and all moderate exercise) get the immune cells moving throughout the body during activity, but it also promotes a lasting presence of these immune cells for up to three hours after exercise is completed. This provides extra time for the immune cells to identify unwanted intruders and keep you from getting sick.
Regular exercise gives more time for immune cells to patrol the body for bacteria and viruses. So, it is better to get into a routine of daily movement not just occasional exercise. Join me for Essentrics this week, but also engage in regular walks and other fun exercise activities.
Essentrics with Sherry 