Did you know that the part of the immune system, responsible for getting rid of waste – dead cells, dead cancer cells, toxins and other waste products – requires the body to move, and to warm up slightly? This part of the immune system is called the lymphatic system. Unlike the blood circulatory system that has a pump – or heart – to pump the blood around the body, the lymphatic system does not.
It’s up to us to stay active, and breathe, and warm up the body, to enable our lymphatic system to work effectively. You may notice how sedentary people get ill all the time. You may have heard “sitting is the new smoking” – this is for a number of reasons – such as lack of oxygen and also because it doesn’t allow for the body to expel waste.
Being inactive can actually be harmful to the human body. We must get moving! And it doesn’t mean going crazy in the gym for hours on end. Just move, walk lots, take a dance class, play golf, go for a jog, lift some weights, take up yoga. Yoga has an astounding number of benefits. From strenghthening your entire musculoskeletal system (muscles, bones, joints, ligaments, cartalege etc), to detoxifying the body, to massaging your internal organs, to calming the mind and de-stressing, to releasing stored trauma from the body. The list is endless. Just get moving. The more you move, the more you’ll want to move and the more your body will crave being active.