Our daily routines are pretty hardwired, even the number of times we towel down when exiting the shower or bath, so when experts tell us to adopt behaviours we don’t enjoy rather than eating more chocolate, it’s going to be a stretch, literally. That’s right the longer we remain in a stationary position, in front of our computers for example, the more we need to stretch tightened muscles to retain flexibility. I can feel my neck uncomfortably constricting as I’m writing this. When I’ve finished, I need to stand up, move my head repeatedly in a circular arc both left and right, then bend from the hips with legs straight and grab my ankles or calves, followed by adopting the crouch pose in frog position and finally lying flat on my back and raising and then slowly lowering my legs. Aiming for at least seven minutes a day would be the bare minimum for realising flexibility benefits.
Then there’s tooth brushing for four minutes, most of us only do 45 seconds, to reduce plaque, meditating for 13 minutes to improve mood, alleviate anxiety and bolster memory, stair climbing for just 20 seconds to improve fitness and make legs stronger and getting outside three times a week between the hours of 11am and 3pm, for 20 minutes in winter and just five minutes in summer, ideally completely exposing our upper torso to obtain sufficient vitamin D, vital for our bones and immune systems. After we’ve done all this there just won’t be any time for eating chocolate.
