Move A Little, Live A Lot!

Why you should keep it moving over the holidays

The festive season has a way of slowing us down, with long lunches, family gatherings and marathon binge watching sessions on the couch. Lovely? Absolutely. Good for our bodies? Not quite. As Dr Jessica Hamuy Blanco (Dr Jess), Product and Clinical Risk Executive at Dis-Chem, gently (and a little cheekily) reminds us, “our bodies were never truly made for all this sitting.” And yet, in modern life, sitting has become our full-time sport.

According to Dr Jess, the real danger isn’t just missing the gym; it’s the ripple effect of doing, nothing. When we’re parked in a chair for hours on end, our muscles fall out of balance, our hearts become a little less strong, and our health quietly starts to take the strain. In her words, movement isn’t a “nice self-care habit” reserved for those with matching workout sets. Instead, it’s an essential.

Dr Jess provides some useful tips that ensure exercise over the holiday season does not look like punishment.

Small steps that spark big change

You don’t have to sprint through the neighbourhood or squeeze into a high intensity interval class. Even small, manageable changes can greatly improve your health like ten-minute walk breaks between wrapping gifts? That counts. Popping out for a stroll after lunch? That counts too.

It’s all thanks to a ‘dose-response’ relationship with movement. The more you move, the more the benefits stack up. And if you’re starting from almost no movement at all, you’re likely to see the biggest improvements. A little effort truly goes a very long way.

Movement is medicine

While we often hear about exercise helping with weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, or mood, movement also protects us where we least expect it – in our bones, our balance and in our future mobility. And thanks to epigenetics, those tiny bursts of movement can literally influence how your genes behave. Think of it as switching on the good stuff.

The mindset makeover we all need

Why then do so many of us still struggle to move? It’s partly because we’ve become disconnected from our bodies and because exercise is often framed in joyless, abstract terms.

People in the healthcare profession should start positioning regular movement as something that is not abstract. Let’s take a cholesterol measurement, for example – you’ve got this number to target, 4.5 and in the patient’s mind, it’s like, 4.5 of what? Telling someone to exercise for a cholesterol reading they don’t understand isn’t exactly motivating.

Instead, movement should be framed in terms of real, felt benefits:

How much more energy will you have? How much clearer will your mind feel? How much easier will daily life become? Suddenly, it becomes tangible, do-able even.

A little festive reflection

So, as you enjoy the celebrations this year, take a moment to picture yourself decades from now. Will you still be able to lift your suitcase into an overhead bin? Dance at your grandchild’s wedding? Carry your shopping without a second thought?

Those future freedoms start with tiny choices today. A stretch here, a walk there, a moment to get your body moving. No pressure. No guilt. No bootcamp energy required.

Just movement, on your terms.

“Remember, every small effort adds up to lasting vitality and more freedom,” Dr Jess concludes.

Mzansi Pulse

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Move a little, Live a lot!

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