Notice that the word “exercise” is not being used.
And for everyone that has ever felt unwell (especially those who are chronically ill), I promise that this isn’t the “…but have you tried yoga?” page.
Promise.
First, a story.
Have you ever wondered why a moderate amount of exercise drastically improves heart health (as in: decreases the risk of heart disease), but increasing amounts of exercise don’t have the same rate of return?
When I was 8 years old, I started volunteering at a nursing home. I learned so much over the following 4 years that this is still my all-time favorite job. Here’s one of the many things I learned (that most people working in elder care already know):
Your heart is only one of the ways your body pumps blood through your system. In the bottom of your foot is another blood pump. For those who are bed-ridden, we had exercises we would do that had them apply pressure to the bottoms of their feet, which helped both their blood circulation and for moving other fluids out of their lower limbs.*
Getting up and using your feet alleviates much of the stress your heart is experiencing by doing all of the work by itself. (If you can’t get up on your own, remember that it’s about applying pressure to the bottoms of your feet, and you can still do that if you’re immobile.)
*Other systems don’t have automatic pumps like a heart. For example, the lymphatic system needs muscle contractions to circulate the system. Using our bodies is necessary for keeping us functional and healthy, but that doesn’t mean we have to get crazy with it.
