Does moving in the morning slow down ageing? Is it that simple?
Well, it seems that the answer is yes, if you ask Gil Hedley. He has been studying the human body for decades. You can watch his dissection videos online and hear him talk about the fuzz. Look on You Tube for Gil Hedley: Fascia and stretching: The Fuzz Speech, if you wish. I won’t post it here as it has images of human cadavers which might not be suitable for everyone.
For those of you who don’t want to watch it I will summarise.
“Each night when you go to sleep, the interfaces between your muscles grow fuzz, says Gil Hedley, and in the morning when you stretch, the fuzz melts.” “Fuzz” is the word he uses for the collagenous connective tissue fibers which can accumulate in places of limited movement. It is building up between the sliding surfaces of our muscles and inhibiting the potential for movement.
We can observe this in faster motion when we have injury and pain. I remember very clearly spraining my ankle many years ago. I had to spend more than a months in a splint. And my lower leg got visibly thinner (I lost some of my muscle volume) and the movement in my ankle was very limited in all directions. Then with time and everyday use as well as with the help of my yoga practice, I managed to regain my normal range of motion. But it didn’t happen in a day.
The longer the fuzz builds up, the longer it will take to melt it down.
Sometimes the fuzz will be building up not because of a sudden event but because of our lifestyle and everyday (lack of) movement patterns. Then something more, plus the stretch, should be done and most likely it will take even longer to recover.
“I believe that one of the great benefits of bodywork, whether massage or structural therapies or any kind of hands-on therapy is that they introduce movement manually to tissues that have become fuzzed-over through lack of movement.”, says Gil Hedley.
We are facing a choice here. Wherever we are in our lives at this point, whatever is happening in our bodies, we can seek help and starting from there we can take responsibility and reinforce a cycle of more movement rather than less movement.
That is why I am always suggesting specific movements or exercises to my massage clients. I work on these adhesions, on the build up of fuzz during a session. And the clients can experience more freedom and range of motion and less restriction and tension after a massage. But then if they continue the same way as before coming to me, they will most probably get to the same point again.
So after the “fuzz speech” I hope you are more inclined to believe that moving in the morning (and throughout the day) slows down ageing. And you will start looking for ways to incorporate more physical activity in your life.
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Photo by Tamba Budiarsana from Pexels
