Why I Still Do My Physio Exercises -- Sort Of

After posting The Great Mind-Body Connection I've had a few questions about whether or not I still do the remedial physio exercises I depended on for so long. And the answer is yes -- and no.

The basic concept behind Super Physio's exercises -- which she often referred to as "remedial Pilates" -- is an active relaxation of the tense muscles. The reason for muscular pain is that the muscle fibers that are supposed to be loose and relaxed are actually "switched on" and in spasm, or constant movement. Through the exercises, you "switch on" your core muscles and when you do that, it is impossible to for the tense muscles in your back, neck, etc. to remain "switched on". And this is exactly how Pilates classes help people maintain good posture. It's all about making sure the right muscles are strong.

And as long as the pain problem is mechanical, these exercises work very well, which is why they helped me muddle through some really difficult times. But as I explained in my previous post, I was still experiencing pain because my mind continued to create tension in these muscles. And now that I know that, the pain has mostly subsided.

But I still do my physio exercises at least once per week. Why is this? As they are a very basic form of pilates, they help to keep my posture aligned. And why is this important if I'm not doing it for pain relief? Three reasons:

1. Good posture is essential for proper breathing. Just speak to a singer. You can't communicate, stay calm or sing (if that's the sort of thing you like to do) without breathing correctly. It really is our life force, physically, mentally and emotionally.

2. Then there's vanity. Let's face it, people with good posture just look better. They sit and stand up tall, they look healthier and more confident.

3. Basic exercise. Sometimes I'm not exercising as regularly as I'd like, but as long as I'm doing my core exercises, at least I know I can maintain a very minimal level of core strength (very minimal, mind you).

And as a caveat: this may seem counter intuitive, but I make a point to try not to do the physio exercises when I do have a small pain flare up. This is because I now know that my problem was not a physical one to begin with. Sure, it became physical, when my body was tied up into knots, but these days I address the emotional aspect first and the physical results follow.

Related Posts:

• On Breathing
• The Great Mind-Body Connection

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Why Eight Hours?

When it comes to sleep, I think many people shy away from being their own expert. There are often articles written eschewing the benefits of getting eight hours of sleep. Then another one says that eight hours is too much!

I obviously haven't done any scientific research on this, but my own personal experience of sleeping is that people need differing amounts. Is it even worth telling people what the average amount needed is when everyone is different? Perhaps there is a minimum amount of sleep people need, but then again there are people who swear that they only get four or five hours of sleep and can function totally fine (not to mention famous people – like Margaret Thatcher, Martha Stewart and Thomas Edison who are believed to get or got by on only four hours of sleep per night).

So how excited was I to find Professor Jim Horne, director of Loughborough University's Sleep Research Centre quoted in last week's issue of Stylist magazine. "Sleep requirement is not an absolute. Eight hours is bandied about because it's a good average – some people can manage on much less and some need more."

He goes on to say that the important thing is to find out what works for you by judging how you feel the next day. The article explains, "Daytime sleepiness, inability to concentrate and depressed mood could all indicate that you aren't getting enough sleep at night. On the other hand, if you feel sprightly and at peace with the world after five hours' sleep, then good for you – no need to worry."

I totally agree with this message. Know thyself. Be your own expert. It's refreshing for once to not be handed a prescriptive message about sleep in a populist publication.

Another quite interesting thing that the article mentioned was the fact that cognitive behavioral therapy (known as CBT) is increasingly being used to treat insomnia. CBT is a type of therapy that focuses on thoughts and behaviors and how they may contribute to life problems. Unlike other talking therapy, like psychotherapy, CBT focuses on the here and now, and while acknowledging the past, does not dwell on issues from it.

This development is interesting as I once read an article – which I am annoyed that I didn't save – about a sleep expert who was helping patients by focusing not on improving their sleep quality but by looking at what they were, or were not, doing during the day, such as helping them to learn how to breathe properly. (And you know how I feel about proper breathing!)

In the article the expert (whoever he was) explained that most people who sleep normally don't even think about sleep and don't do anything in particular to nod off. Whereas those who battle insomnia obsess over it and work themselves up – making cups of warm milk at bedtime and buying sound machines.

This made sense to me. The more you worry and obsess about a problem, the worse it can sometimes become. Which is why it makes sense that more holistic approaches are now being explored, such as CBT.

I have to say that I am quite lucky with sleep (although not mornings). Being a good sleeper may have something to do with the fact that I am a low energy person generally and need caffeine to get anything done. If I could just loll around on a chaise lounge reading all day I definitely would.

However, my brain has a lot more energy. So, knowing myself as I do, I use exercise as something that helps me to balance out this strange discrepancy. This doesn't sound incredibly scientific (and it's not), but it's the way it feels to me. It's as if I need to rev up my physical state and slow down my mind.

So again, that's why it's important to be our own experts. You know yourself best and when you're working out something as fundamental as how many hours a night to sleep (or how much exercise you need to do and why), knowing yourself is a good place to start.

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On Breathing

I'm not very good at breathing. This may sound strange, because we obviously need to breathe to live. But I often find that I actually hold my breath – or breathe really shallowly – especially when I feel stressed, uneasy or anxious.

The other day I was walking home from the train station and feeling generally icky so I started to try to breathe more deeply. I immediately started to feel better, calmer and more grounded. And then I started to yawn, just like in yoga class after we've done the first breathing exercise. My body suddenly seemed to shake free of the tension I was holding and I felt better – and more human.

Obviously, this all sounds pretty hokey and new-agey, but there is actually something to be said for learning how to breathe well to help with everyday stress. I found a paper written by Patricia L. Gerbarg, M.D., an assistant clinical professor in psychiatry at New York Medical College, where she explains that our stress response system works within the autonomic nervous system consisting of two branches – sympathetic and parasympathetic. The sympathetic nervous system switches on when we feel threatened in a fight or flight scenario, increasing the heart rate, breathing and metabolic rate. When the threat has passed the parasympathetic system's role is to slow down these rates, repair any cellular damage and calm and replenish our energy, according to Gerbarg.

For people under stress or those with chronic anxiety (read more on research that we may be pre-disposed to anxiety, in my post Baby 19), the sympathetic system is in overdrive and the parasympathetic system is underactive. There are many medicines that can temporarily dampen the sympathetic system, however, there really isn't anything available to boost the parasympathetic system.

So that's where breathing techniques and other mind-body practices like meditation and yoga fit in. They are ways to boost the parasympathetic nervous system to keep that pesky sympathetic system in check.

I really like Leo Babuta's blog, called Zen Habits and his post on breathing pretty much says it all: click here to read about the many benefits of breathing. I particularly like the idea that you can always rely on taking a breath whenever something in your life starts to make you feel out of control, it's just so simple that one could really overlook it.

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Monkeys And Meditation

If I ever mention that I have dabbled in meditation I get a mixed reaction. People are suspicious, but at the same time very curious. What is meditation about, really? Is it about relaxing? And is the person they're talking to really strange?

I actually haven't had much time to meditate recently. We spent the first half of this year buying a flat and moving and are now planning a wedding. Setting aside some time to meditate would probably help with such stress, but never mind. You do what you can.

But what is meditation, really? If I could describe it in the simplest way possible it would be about attention. Have you ever become so absorbed in doing something that you lose all track of time and nothing else seems to matter? For a little while you forget all about your constantly growing 'to do' list, those pictures from 2006 that you never put in an album, the sandwich you left rotting in the work fridge a few weeks ago and also, the sudden thought that maybe all the people in your life have formed a secret club to conspire against you (maybe you believe me now that I'm a paranoid person).

I've done a lot of reading about the idea of mindfulness and meditation, focusing your attention on the task at hand and not listening to all those little thoughts that go shuttling through your brain every minute of every day. But reading about it and doing it are two different things.

So maybe a year or so ago I decided I needed to practice this ability to pay attention – which is what (I believe) meditation is mostly about. I actually bought the book Meditation For Dummies and dealt with the embarrassment of reading it on the London tube. If you're looking for a primer on the topic it's a great broad introduction without any particular spiritual or religious bent.

I started with the first basic type of meditation: to simply sit on the floor (or a cushion), close your eyes and count your breaths. And every time your mind wanders away from focusing on the rise and fall of your belly, you try to bring it back. Apparently our minds are particularly good at wandering. I took a yoga class in San Francisco earlier this year with my friend, and her teacher called this "monkey mind" since your mind is running all over the place like a little monkey. I love this. Sometimes the monkey in my mind also throws fruit at me.

I've experimented with daily 10 minute bouts of meditation over the past year or so, but it's been hard recently. Fortunately, life gives us some great opportunities to start practicing focus and attention without it.

Now I just try to get fully involved in whatever it is I'm doing. Whether it's a conversation with a friend, a meeting, or a task at work that's particularly difficult. When every bone in my body is screaming that I need to be somewhere else doing something else that would make me feel better or happier or calmer, I try to take a deep breath and return to where I am now.

I read once that hell is wanting to be somewhere that you're not (wish I could remember where - I will keep looking for the reference). Maybe we don't have enough time to meditate, but it sure seems like a waste of time in our short lives to be wishing we were somewhere else.

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