Wonder how well you are aging?
If you’re trying to get a sense of where you fall on the aging scale, you could go to your doctor to get a measure of biomarkers like your bone mass, blood pressure, blood sugar levels, and so on.
But did you know that there is one important predictor of aging that you don’t need your doctor in order to measure?
It is this: How well you move.
Seems too simple?
Well, in fact, researchers agree that how well you move is one of the best predictors of how well you will age and how long you will live.
Something as basic as how fast you walk, for example, will predict not only your quality of life as you get older but also how long you will live.
So that begs the question, what can we do to optimize our ability to retain mobility as we get older?
In this free download, Dr. Joe Vella, DP, and yoga therapist Lynn Crimando discuss why we lose mobility over time and the best approaches to preventing this.
There’s a lot that we can do to slow the degenerative changes in the body that undermine our freedom of movement over time.
“The biggest part of keeping the body from aging is just keeping the body moving in the most efficient way that it can,” says Dr. Joe Vella. “Keeping the joints in the body lubricated is crucial to staying healthy.”
“Keeping the fascia lubricated is crucial to the mobility that you have available in your system, and the best way to lubricate your fascia is through movement, movement, and hydration. If you don’t do those two things, you can’t expect to have a healthy body.
Stretching is one important way to retain mobility and keep the joints fully mobile, notes Lynn. However, there are many approaches to stretching, and most people don’t realize that simple, static stretching doesn’t give the results we need.
“We now know that stretching isn’t as much about lengthening the muscles, it’s about changing the neuromuscular integration of the body,” says Dr. Joe. “It’s not just about how well the hamstring can lengthen. There are a lot of things that control hamstring lengthening, and the main thing is the nervous system.”
Dr. Joe and Lynn then go on to discuss new advances in the science of stretching with a particular focus on advanced stretching concepts like PNF (Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation) and how we can integrate it into our yoga practice.
You might also be interested in Lynn and Joe’s course: Beyond Stretching in Yoga: Groundbreaking New Techniques for Enhanced Joint Mobility and Flexibility – Lower Body.
