We all sort of know what “circulation” is and why it’s important to our overall health. Well, it’s not just important; it’s MISSION CRITICAL; as in, it is vital to the proper and efficient functioning of our body! Our bodies vast system of blood vessels – made up of arteries, veins, and capillaries – is over 60,000 miles long. That’s long enough to go around the world more than twice! Blood flows continuously through your body’s blood vessels. It’s mind boggling when you think about it. Along with your heart and muscles – this IS your circulatory system. Circulation is a process by which the heart pumps blood through the body. It’s that simple. As the blood moves to different parts of your body, it delivers oxygen and nutrients and takes away waste.
I like to think of a big cruise ship that comes into a port after sailing on the ocean for a few weeks. When it comes into the Port, it must do 2 very important things – replenish its fuel and food and eliminate the onboard waste. After which, it can leave and sail back out to the ocean in good form. The human body is no different. It needs to continuously replenish its oxygen to its vital organs in order to continue “safe sailing”. If your circulation is poor, your arteries narrow it slows or even blocks the flow of blood. It doesn’t take a ship’s captain to understand that when this happens, the cells in your body don’t get the oxygen and nutrients that they need to properly perform their job.
Now there are obvious things that most people know that will rob their bodies of their good health like smoking, not enough fluids, and excessive saturated fats. But so many ignore the heath risks of being sedentary in a position (sitting; kneeling; standing or lying) for too long. Excessive sitting has been linked to increased risk of heart disease. From driving in your car to sitting in your office chair and watching television on the couch, people sit more than they may realize, and they pay for it because a sedentary lifestyle can lead to problems like heart disease – the more you sit, the less you move, and the less you move, the less your blood travels to your organs. If this is a regular routine, over time the ability of your body to respond to the need for action is diminished by a decrease in muscle strength, mass and effectiveness called atrophy.
So, what’s the real simple lesson here? The human body was meant to move. That’s why the song says, “You’ve got to move it move it, move it”; or the saying goes “move it or lose it”. Any physical activity like walking; jogging; yoga; playing a sport – anything that involves body movement increases blood flow and circulation. Get up from your desk and walk around; do the same in an airplane; take a break on a long drive at a park and go for a 10-minute walk – just MOVE IT!
But there ARE times when you are doing things that prohibit movement for extended periods of time. Let’s take for example – driving; being in an important meeting; being employed as a cashier or factory worker, labouring away at a workstation or a sit-down desk all day – these circumstances all compromise healthy circulation and it’s difficult to do anything about it.
I cannot overstate the importance of “movement”. BUT if you can’t move, then you need a surface that moves when you move; even your slightest movements (like shifting your body weight while driving) triggers a gently massage that increases blood flow.
But how do you find a healthy seating or standing option when there are so many of them out there. There are seriously a LOT options out there for you to choose from. Well, we would love for you to choose a SP1KE surface – BUT we want to be sure that you are buying one for all the right reasons and you understand how this unique surface can actually increase blood flow and relieve pain and numbness. One of the stories we love to tell our customers was from a trade show the first year we started selling to the public.
We were showcasing our seats and our mats and inviting people to try them out by sitting and standing on them. A small percentage of people were a little intimidated because the surface is called SP1KE and it appears to have small spikes and give the impression that it will hurt or feel uncomfortable. Actually, the complete opposite is true. But I digress – back the story. So, this guy walks past and says nothing at all but makes a beeline for the seat cushion on the chair, abruptly sits down and within one minute says, “I’ll buy it, how much is it”. Somewhat surprised by the effortless transaction, our sales ambassador asks him after he buys the cushion – “what made you buy it so quickly, I hadn’t told you anything about it?”. And he says, “I have sciatica, and this is the first time in months I have been able to sit down without sharp pain shooting down my leg; I don’t need to hear any more”.
