Locomotoring

NASA astronauts on the space station exercise 2.5 hours daily, six days a week. I am finding myself in a similar predicament. They do it to counteract muscle atrophy. I do it to manage pain.

I have had an on-again off-again relationship with pain my entire life. It has been in an on-again for last several years as I started the fifth decade. My hips hurt when I walk horizontally. My knees hurt when I walk vertically. My shoulders hurt when I go to bed. My back hurts when I garden. My joints are stiff when I wake up in the morning. My head hurts when there is too much noise. My neck hurts I have spent time staring at the monitor. Over the years, I have realized that my aches and pains are best managed with a balanced activity regime. Part one is bones and joints. They need to be treated roughly – jump up and down, run etc. Part two is muscles, they need stretching and strengthening, lift weights, do yoga. Part three is nerves and fascia, they need unclogging with QiGong. And finally, part four, the balance that improves with dance or slack line. Then there is rest – for the brain, the conductor of the daily orchestra, the one that gets stuck in the circle (link). It needs quiet moments, a bit of star gazing or watching the hummingbirds. Too much of one and too little of other throws the system off balance and recovery takes days.

On days I feel annoyed with all the refurbishing, I think about astronauts. In case you wondered that they are up to, fitness wise, here is a normie testing out astronaut’s exercise regimen (link). Thoughts of them stuck in a smelly tardis, where globs of sweat coalesce on their face, to be eventually sucked in by the ventilation system to be converted into next day’s coffee is guaranteed to make you feel good about your workout routine.