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Articles from Gail McGonigal | Selfgrowth.com
- Why Can't I Find Comfort in Sitting? - by Submitted on Jan 10, 2011 from Gail McGonigalSitting is the most common action performed by our body. We do more sitting than we do walking. Yet why do we complain so much about the way we sit? The answer lies in the fact that we have never understood how to sit correctly for comfort. In my youth I was always told to 'sit up,' or my ...
Views: 1234(1 vote) - The Dangers to your Spine in Daily Living: Washing the Kitchen Floor - by Submitted on Nov 19, 2010 from Gail McGonigalHousework is one of the main ways that many people injure their backs, by simply not using the correct muscles or joints in the movements required for accomplishing the task. The main option for cleaning the floor is to use a kitchen mop. If your kitchen is large, then you are more likely to ...
Views: 2846(4 votes) - The Dangers to your Spine in Daily Living: Picking up a Feather - by Submitted on Nov 19, 2010 from Gail McGonigalWhether you are picking up a feather or a sack of potatoes; the principles of bending over and reaching to the floor are the same. Always remember that your spine is not designed to bend into a 90 degree angle. There is no flexibility in the spine. It is your legs that need the movement and not ...
Views: 2457(1 vote) - The Dangers to your Spine in Daily Living - Brushing your Teeth - by Submitted on Nov 13, 2010 from Gail McGonigalWhat! A simple task as brushing your teeth? How can this be so dangerous? I have done it this way for years and it’s never been a problem! The fact that you have repeated the same motion for years may be the reason why your back is now giving you problems. It may be that you are so ...
Views: 1426(1 vote) - What Causes Back Pain in Daily Living? - by Submitted on Nov 13, 2010 from Gail McGonigalBack pain is the most common cause of visits to your family doctor, because of its interference in our movements in daily activities. The reason for its high incidence is because you are creating too much dynamic movement in your spine, during these activities; with insufficient balanced, ...
Views: 1234(1 vote) - Drinking 2 Glasses of Water before a Meal, Reduces Weight Loss More than with or after a Meal - by Submitted on Aug 31, 2010 from Gail McGonigalAccording to a study that came out on August 23rd 2010 in Canada, it was found that in two groups of baby boomers who ate exactly the same foods in a one month period; the group who drank 2 glasses of water before their meal, lost significantly more weight than the group who did not drink water ...
Views: 2486(4 votes) - Obesity is About Changing your Lifestyle and Not about Trying to Lose Weight - by Submitted on Aug 31, 2010 from Gail McGonigalIf you are constantly obsessed with food, by depriving yourself of what you enjoy; then the changes are that you will actually never win the battle of trying to lose weight. Every time I said to myself “Right I am going on a Diet! I would suddenly have this strong desire to have something ...
Views: 1594(2 votes) - The First of Seven Sins in Obesity –the Car - by Submitted on Aug 31, 2010 from Gail McGonigalThis article is not directed to any woeful sins that you are currently enjoying that are causing your obesity. The sins are what is society is creating, that makes it difficult for you to lose weight. I feel that you need to understand what these sins are, in the hope that you can learn to make ...
Views: 1487(1 vote) - Waking Up with Back Pain - What Will Make it Go Away? - by Submitted on Aug 31, 2010 from Gail McGonigalThe main causes of back pain are lack of movement in your spine. As a writer about back pain, because I have suffered back pain myself with postural scoliosis in my spine; I will admit that it happens to us all, if we don't practice what we preach! None of us are perfect and I am no ...
Views: 2891 - Embrace Yoga Principles when Using Ergonomic Sitting - by Submitted on Aug 31, 2010 from Gail McGonigalYoga principles encourage relaxation in the muscles of your body, along with deep breathing that calms the mind for optimum concentration towards the task at hand when sitting. Sitting on your pelvic bones in an ergonomic chair, with your stocking feet wrapped around the chair base, is like ...
Views: 1432 - The Seven Sins of Obesity: The Final Conclusion - by Submitted on Aug 31, 2010 from Gail McGonigalThis article is the final conclusion to the article series about the sins, or reasons for obesity in the western culture from the last seven articles. Let’s just go through the process of how it all started: It began with the use of a vehicle – a car for getting around, which immediately ...
Views: 2669(1 vote) - Drinking Only Alkaline Water Can Heal Chronic Pain - by Submitted on Aug 31, 2010 from Gail McGonigalIt is difficult for many people to understand that there are very different types of water around. This is largely due to the chemical structure of natural water. Water that comes from your tap is natural water at a pH of normally 7.5; which many people fear may not be healthy for us, ...
Views: 9303 - The Benefits of Drinking Ionized Water for Improving Health - by Submitted on Aug 26, 2010 from Gail McGonigalWater is an essential need in our daily life, because we are made up of 80% water and it either evaporates, or is used up in the metabolism of our body for the productive activity of daily living. The content of our body is made up of neutral water, which our body continually needs for the ...
Views: 1617 - The Sixth of Seven Sins in Obesity – Sedentary Leisure Activities - by Submitted on Aug 27, 2010 from Gail McGonigalFollowing on from time management skills, do we actually have time for leisure activities? It is questionable whether anyone plans to have leisure time, or whether you are like me; you just grab it now and again, when someone offers you a hike up the “Grouse Grind” or something else ...
Views: 1932(1 vote) - The Fifth Deadly Seven Sin in Obesity – Poor Time Management - by Submitted on Aug 31, 2010 from Gail McGonigalIt is hoped that by now, you are able see the development of how obesity advanced in the western culture, with the advent of the motor vehicle. As I have declared, it is not entirely your fault; because the pattern has been driven by big corporations; for attracting families into seeing their ...
Views: 2865(1 vote) - The Fourth of Seven Sins in Obesity – Changing Family Dynamics - by Submitted on Aug 26, 2010 from Gail McGonigalWe have now reached the fourth reason that is driving obesity in the western world, which is not entirely due to the individual. I consider that the western culture corporations have designed this pattern, firstly by encouraging everyone to use a car for transportation, instead of their own ...
Views: 2124 - The Third of Seven Sins in Obesity - Dehydration - by Submitted on Aug 26, 2010 from Gail McGonigalAfter going through the first two reasons why the western population is gaining so much weight.; we come to the third reason which is dehydration. I am inclined not to attribute all the blame to you personally, because we live in a society where we are bombarded with advertising. It is ...
Views: 3356(1 vote) - The Second of Seven Sins in Obesity – Fast Food - by Submitted on Aug 26, 2010 from Gail McGonigalThis article is the second in a series, where I am trying to explain the reasons for the transformation of our size and shape into obesity. In the western culture, we have a market explosion of advertising in every direction that confuses life with 'need' and 'wants'. There are too many choices ...
Views: 1406(1 vote) - The Benefits of Drinking Ionized Water for Improving Health - by Submitted on Aug 31, 2010 from Gail McGonigalWater is an essential need in our daily life, because we are made up of 80% water and it either evaporates, or is used up in the metabolism of our body for the productive activity of daily living. The content of our body is made up of neutral water, which our body continually needs for the ...
Views: 1593 - Why is Prolonged Sitting BAD for your Health? - by Submitted on Jun 20, 2010 from Gail McGonigalIf you watched CTV last week in Canada, you will have seen that the government is warning workers that prolonged sitting is no longer good for your overall health. It is an area that I have been discussing in relation to your skeletal health, but now the government is warning workers in ...
Views: 2775(1 vote) - Ergonomic Office Chairs: Part 2 -Postural Practice for Prolonged Sitting - by Submitted on Jun 04, 2010 from Gail McGonigalIn Part 1, a method of pelvic movement was described that helps sustain prolonged sitting in an Ergonomic chair, for users who need to sit all day in productive employment. An exercise was shown that helps improve this movement, as well as its purpose. It was also explained why postural ...
Views: 2554(3 votes) - Ergonomic Office Chairs: Part I .Postural Practice for Prolonged Sitting - by Submitted on Jun 04, 2010 from Gail McGonigalErgonomic chairs are designed for enabling people to remain comfortable when performing work or employment based activities in an ergonomic chair. Postural comfort does not come naturally. It comes from learning to create movement in your pelvic region, so that tissues in your buttocks ...
Views: 1967(1 vote) - Deep Breathing in Prolonged Sitting for Back Pain Relief - by Submitted on Jun 04, 2010 from Gail McGonigalBreathing is a natural occurring movement in our body for gaining much needed oxygen to remain alive. We can use diaphragmatic breathing to activate additional oxygen in our bodies, when we need to calm our body or increase motivation in our activity. It will help change a lethargic, inactive ...
Views: 3288(2 votes) - Ergonomic Sitting - Skeletal Health for Your Back - by Submitted on Jun 04, 2010 from Gail McGonigalErgonomic sitting is the term that I have created for performing work-based activities throughout the day for comfort in prolonged sitting. The term was created by me after finding I had overcome the postural scoliosis in my spine, caused from one leg being longer than the other; which is common ...
Views: 3017(3 votes) - Back Pain. Why Not Think Ergonomic Solutions? - by Submitted on Jun 04, 2010 from Gail McGonigalBack pain is one of the main reasons why people take time off work and why? It is because we spend too much time in sedentary, sloppy positions, doing very little movement and letting our muscles become lax and under-used. We have become a society that drives around in cars – to the shops, to ...
Views: 2762 - HOW TO CHOOSE AN ERGONOMIC CHAIR - by Submitted on Feb 27, 2010 from Gail McGonigalYou are thinking of purchasing an ergonomic chair. Well done! The decision to think ergonomic means you want to take care of your skeletal joints, so that you suffer fewer discomforts as you age. My knowledge as a qualified Occupational Therapist, along with an M.Sc in Health Promotion is proof ...
Views: 2062(3 votes) - AN NEW APPROACH TO ACTIVE LIVING - by Submitted on Dec 03, 2009 from Gail McGonigalActive Living is about how we choose to ‘live’ our lives every day. It includes all the movements that we create, for accomplishing tasks for ourselves & others in our family, our work, recreation, plus everything that we “perform” for making “living” the content of our daily life. We live ...
Views: 1214(1 vote) - WHAT DOES ERGONOMIC MEAN? - by Submitted on Nov 29, 2009 from Gail McGonigalThe word ergonomic is the study of the interaction between individuals, machines or appliances in their environment that can affect their performance and productivity. The purpose of Ergonomic is to assess the interaction, or relationship between each component for determining optimum ...
Views: 8091(2 votes) - 10 WAYS TO MOVE IN PROLONGED SITTING - by Submitted on Nov 28, 2009 from Gail McGonigalSitting is not designed to be a stillness activity. Our body is not intended to remain still, but to constantly move. There is currently a great deal of interest in the negative effects of prolonged sitting, because lack of movement far outweighs the balance in a healthy lifestyle. In other ...
Views: 1851(2 votes) - How to Sit in a Chair All Day with Comfort - by Submitted on Nov 24, 2009 from Gail McGonigalWe spend a large portion of our day in the sitting position; yet why is it so uncomfortable to sit all day? Unfortunately, the human body is not designed to remain permanently in one place. It is designed to constantly move, so any prolonged sitting is naturally going feel uncomfortable. To ...
Views: 1300(2 votes) - The True Meaning of Comfort in Daily Living - by Submitted on Jul 23, 2009 from Gail McGonigalIf someone were to ask you to create a of picture ‘comfort’ in your mind, what images would you create? It is a question that I have asked people, in order to find out how people interpret comfort. I was surprised at some of the answers, which made me question people’s perception of how they ...
Views: 2589 - THE ART OF LIVING IN COMFORT - by Submitted on Jul 23, 2009 from Gail McGonigalWhen we think of art, we think of pictures, or images of life. We can use this as a metaphor for creating a style of how we want to live as we age. For me style is not about a type of furniture, it’s design, or a colour in the material. It is simply a way of life that has practical purpose, ...
Views: 1160 - A new Approach to Health through Active Living - by Submitted on Jul 23, 2009 from Gail McGonigal“Active Living” is about how we choose to ‘live’ our lives every day. It includes all the movements that we create to accomplish tasks that we do for ourselves & others in our family, our work, our sports & recreation, plus are all other aspects of our daily lives. It embraces everything that we ...
Views: 1250 - A New Approach to Active Living - by Submitted on Jul 19, 2009 from Gail McGonigal“Active Living” is about how we choose to ‘live’ our lives every day. It includes all the movements that we create to accomplish tasks that we do for ourselves & others in our family, our work, our sports & recreation, plus are all other aspects of our daily lives. It embraces everything that we ...
Views: 1204 - Protect Your Joints - Preserve Your Energy - Promote Your Safety - by Submitted on Jul 18, 2009 from Gail McGonigalWhat do these three words mean for our human body? When we PROTECT our body, it means that we are protecting it against injury; like protecting our head with a helmet when we cycle. We protect our back from injury, by bending our knees instead of our backs when lifting a heavy box. We ...
Views: 1574 - Holding Daily Life in Comfort - by Submitted on Jul 13, 2009 from Gail McGonigalHOLDING DAILY LIFE IN COMFORT using a “RELAXED HOLD” Gail McGonigal B.Sc.O.T., M.Sc.Health Is living life comfortable for you? Or does performing routine daily tasks result in pain or discomfort in your hands? It happened to me several years ago, when I began feeling pain in the base of ...
Views: 2254(2 votes)