Time to stretch

I am a late to bed, late to rise kind of person. I have been most of my life. When I was young my sister bought me a little plaque that said "The early worm gets eaten by the bird." I thought it was so funny. In thinking about it I would say that staying up late is the time when it is most peaceful and the time that I am able to spend with my lovely wife, even if it is only sitting on the couch watching TV.

Now the thought of staying up late is starting to dawn on me (pardon the pun) that this could be part of my weight issue. I watch too much TV, and in doing so, I don't use my body and keep myself limber. IF I were to get up much earlier, even before my family and use the time to workout, time would not be taken away from them and the chance to workout would be there.

One of the reasons I am so motivated in losing this weight is that in the past year I have seemed to lose some mobility in my back. Swimming could help me in that department. I enjoy swimming, it is low impact and if you do it correctly can really get your heart rate up.

Last night there was an infomercial about how the spine works, ruptured disks, degenerative disk issues and the use of Spinal Decompression Therapy. The doctor "interviewed" spoke about how when we get older, it is very important that the spine flexes in order to get nutrients to the spinal disks.

Here is the video online if you are interested.

Dayton Spinal Decompression Therapy, Dr. T.J. Poelking
	30 min - Feb 11, 2008 Dayton Spinal Decompression Therapy. Dr. T.J. Poelking is a guest expert interviewed on the nationally syndicated television show, Incredible...all ... video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2741320636036272632

There was some great information about the workings of the spine.

Some things I surmised from watching this. Any extra weight on a persons midsection is going to do to have ramifications on your spinal, and therefore, overall health:

• excess body fat will add extra pressure on the spine
• excess body fat will constantly pull your spine in directions that it probably shouldn't be pulled
• if you are out of shape, by definition, wouldn't your core muscles of your stomach not be in the shape that are holding the lower back in alignment?
• proper nutrition (while losing weight) will help any part of your body in healing.

Having had back pain since I was young due to stupidity in picking things up, my children and wife now get harped on whenever I see them picking something up the wrong way.

( just searched on Google to give you a link on how to properly pick things up, and all I got was sights trying to explain how to pick up "girls" or people writing about picking things up with their toes. Looks like you will have to do your own search on the subject.)

One of the things the video was explaining is that as you get older the spine does not get it's nutrition from a blood supply but relies on bodily movement to basically squish out the waste products and suck in the new nutrients, so if you are less mobile, then it is a good possibility to have the disk degenerate due to the nutrition not getting to where it needs to go.

I would think that anything that includes movement, be it stretching, or activities or working out in the proper way is going to help you spinal health. Yet another good reason to lose a great deal of weight for me or anyone else for that matter.

Very Best,
"Onesville"