Attacking The Heart

Over the last week or two, I've tried to hop on an exercise bike every morning. This new routine fights some inertia since I broke my arm last December. I had totally stopped blogging or exercising, instead electing to be a lazy bum while healing.

Immediately after the first couple workouts, I started feeling better. Just 10-15 minutes of light pedaling accelerated my healing. I often have cold hands, but not after biking for long enough! I imagine the extra blood flow helped to clean the wound area and scar tissue, while delivering more nutrients to promote healing of my forearm bones.

My wrist area has been the most stiff and sore. Purposefully stretching it while warm during and after biking has helped recover motion. I started out lopsided, unable to rotate my arm nor do a bicep curl. Now it's almost aligned—maybe 80%.

Have you ever had a pimple or cut somewhere that's slow to heal? For example, wrinkly skin near the elbow or ankle, maybe on a fingertip. I suspect moving regularly to circulate blood will cause faster healing.

This sounds obvious, but I've never thought of the net effect on my heart before. Rather than targeting a certain distance or heart rate for a cardio workout, I think the important thing is probably to just "offload" the heart's normal job for 5-10 minutes each day. To give your heart an "inverse boost" by moving around your limbs.

If we sit on our computer all day, our heart works furiously to pump blood throughout the body, especially to the brain. If you get cold hands and feet easily like me, maybe your heart struggles to push blood all the way out to the most extreme capillaries.

So just like you might help your child with her homework or your dog with some loving pats, any kind of yoga or cardio can be thought of as effectively "petting your heart" by giving it some rest while you take net responsibility for moving around the blood in your veins instead.

Why do massages leave us feeling so relaxed? Our spine communicates nerve signals between our brain and body. If the cells in our fingers and toes get blood pushed and pulled through them more proactively, assuming we ate a good meal and have the right vitamins floating around, perhaps they are sending a million little relaxed signals back to the brain "now I'm happy, fed, and feeling abundant!"

I'm only 30, but I imagine I'd be more lazy at 50 or 60 if I got injured. So I better keep building disciplined habits now. Massaging my heart and cells through exercise is the cheapest way to keep them happy and healthy. Everyone around me will also find more joy interacting with a relaxed, nourished Andy.

Give your organs some self-love! Attack your heart with an exercise hug.