5 Ways Sittosis "Tin Man Syndrome" is Overcome Naturally
by www.SixWise.com

Remember the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz? His body hadn’t been used in so long that he was stiff, inflexible and barely capable of moving ... that is, until Dorothy fixed him up with a few squirts of oil.

Well, like the Tin Man, your body, too, can “rust” and get stiff if you don’t use it. This can manifest not only in your joints and muscles, but also in your internal organs. After several decades of misuse or neglect, your body may begin to manifest signs of illness or even start to shut down.

Oxidative Stress: When Your Body Rusts from the Inside Out

Oxidative stress is now recognized as a leading cause of chronic disease and aging. It occurs when free radicals -- toxic oxygen molecules produced by normal body processes but also via external sources like stress and pollution -- spiral out of control.

Even the healthiest among us have free radicals in our systems. However, free radicals are normally kept under wraps where they cannot cause great harm to your body. When free radicals exist in your body in excess, the harmful condition known as oxidative stress occurs.

"There is evidence that free radicals are a predominant factor in the etiology of a wide range of diseases and conditions such as cancer, diabetes, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer's disease and rheumatoid arthritis," free radical and antioxidant expert Li Li Ji, Ph.D. of the University of Wisconsin in Madison told Men’s Fitness

What causes oxidative stress?

There are two major ways that free radicals can overwhelm your body. One is that you've been exposed to an abundance of them due to environmental pollutants and other toxins, including:

• Cigarette smoke

• Alcohol

• Automobile exhaust

• Air pollution

• Bacterial, fungal, or viral infections

• Asbestos

• Radiation

The other is that your body is lacking in the healthy compounds it needs to fight free radicals: antioxidants. Antioxidants can be vitamins, minerals or enzymes, and they exist in foods and certain supplements. Because most Americans do not eat healthy diets -- ones that include fruits, vegetables and other whole foods -- and instead eat diets rich in processed fast foods, many of us are seriously lacking in these health-giving compounds, and on the contrary are introducing health-damaging foods to our bodies.

Stress, especially when it’s chronic, is another major cause of oxidative stress.

Sittosis and Muscle Atrophy: If You Don’t Use it, You Lose It

Muscle atrophy typically occurs when you don’t use your bones and muscles for an extended period of time, such as while on bed rest or having your leg in a cast. Over time, the lack of use causes your muscles and bones to weaken and waste away.

While not as pronounced as full-blown atrophy, sitting for long periods of time over an extended period is also detrimental for your health.

American adults spend an average of more than eight hours each day in front of screens, including televisions, computer monitors, cell phones and others, according to a Video Consumer Mapping study.

During this time, most Americans are also likely to be sitting, but that’s not all. Americans also sit at their desks and in their cars, which could easily push the average number of hours spent sitting even higher.

What’s the problem with sitting?

Your body was not meant to sit in one position for long periods of time. When this occurs, not only are your muscles not engaged, but the circulation of lipase, an enzyme that absorbs fat, is stopped. So instead of being absorbed by your muscles, when you’re sitting fat recirculates in your bloodstream where it may end up stored as body fat, clogging arteries or contributing to disease.

Sitting has also been found to actually stimulate disease-promoting processes, and may double or even triple your risk of diabetes, obesity, heart disease and premature death.

Along with sitting less, if you neglect to challenge your body with regular exercise you may also experience muscle atrophy. This is especially true as you get older.

According to a new study in the European journal EMBO Molecular Medicine, after two weeks in a cast (to simulate immobilization), older men’s muscles showed greater signs of atrophy and took longer to recover.

"Two weeks of immobilization only mildly affected young muscle, in terms of tissue maintenance and functionality, whereas old muscle began to atrophy and manifest signs of rapid tissue deterioration," Morgan Carlson, UC Berkeley researcher and the study's lead author, told LiveScience.

"The old muscle also didn't recover as well with exercise," he said. "This emphasizes the importance of older populations staying active because the evidence is that for their muscle, long periods of disuse may irrevocably worsen the stem cells' regenerative environment."

5 Top Tips for Avoiding Tin Man Syndrome

With attention to a healthy lifestyle, you can avoid Tin Man Syndrome and keep your body a well-oiled machine, no matter what your age. Here are the top tips to live by:

1. Eat an Antioxidant-Rich Diet

Antioxidants help prevent oxidation, but you must fortify your diet with them by eating fruits, vegetables, nuts and other whole foods regularly to get the benefit. You can check out our past article for a list of the top 20 antioxidant foods and six disease-fighting super antioxidants.

2. Eat More Raw Food

Raw plant and animal foods (such as raw milk) are loaded with beneficial enzymes for your body. Enzymes are special proteins that act as catalysts for the chemical reactions that occur to keep your body functioning. Millions of these reactions take place in your body each day, helping you to not only digest food but also to:

• Assimilate and digest nutrients

• Breathe

• Detox certain organs

• Purify your blood

• Move your muscles

• Produce and regulate hormones

• Renew and repair your cells

So your body needs enzymes to help repair damage, detox, and stay well on multiple levels. While your body does produce enzymes on its own, another important source is the enzymes you get from raw food.

If you would like to try out some delicious, enzyme-rich raw food recipes, “Alive in 5:” Raw Gourmet Meals in Five Minutes is highly recommended. Even those who are new to raw foods will enjoy the simple recipes (most can be prepared in five minutes!) for lasagna, spaghetti marinara, stuffed mushrooms, broccoli in cheese sauce, apple pie and more. They're healthy and delicious, and will make you want to eat raw for the taste value alone!

Another option if your diet consists primarily of cooked foods is to take an enzyme supplement. There are numerous enzyme supplements available on the market to help increase your levels, but Sixiwse.com highly recommends the plant-based, acid-resistant digestive enzyme formulation, AbsorbAid Platinum from NutritionsFinest.com.

This vegetable-based digestive enzyme system combines its effective ratio of proteases, amylases, lipases and cellulases with two “acid-tolerant” bacteria or a probiotic combination, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium bifidum.

This product addresses not only the digestive enzyme system deficiencies recognized in most adults, but it combines two effectively beneficial bacterial strains that are metabolically complementary and help create a symbiosis with the digestive enzyme system complex and helps promote immune system excellence.

High-quality whole-food supplement concentrates can also be used along with a healthy raw food diet to give your body plenty of “anti-rust” nutrients.

3. Exercise Sensibly

Exercise does, in fact, cause oxidative stress in your body, which is why doing too much of it, or at too strenuous a level, can do your body more harm than good.

However, regular exercise that builds your fitness levels gradually will help to enhance your body’s ability to handle stress and other assaults. Exercising also increases the levels of endorphins in your body, which stimulate your immune system, reduce stress and put you in a better mood.

You should incorporate a wide variety of activities ranging from cardio to strength training in your routine, and Sixwise.com also highly recommends integrating a mind-body fitness program, such as SheaNetics from MySheaNetics.com, into your fitness program as well.

SheaNetics is a unique fitness and self-help philosophy dedicated to providing you with life-improving ideas and the inspirational motivation needed to achieve complete well-being. You can find out more and view an introductory video at MySheanetics.com.

Many of our SixWise team members use the MySheanetics.com DVD program nearly every day to reduce stress and to keep a balanced mind, body and spirit. That’s why we recommend MySheanetics.com -- because it’s a program we found to be better than anything else we have tested. We love it!

4. Consider Chiropractic Wellness Care

People who have received chiropractic care had higher mean levels of serum thiol, primary antioxidants that serve as a measure of health status, than those who received no chiropractic care, according to a study in the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research.

"Going through life, we experience physical, chemical, and emotional stress. These stresses affect the function of the nervous system. We hypothesized that these disturbances in nerve function could affect oxidative stress and DNA repair on a cellular level," Dr. Christopher Kent, one of the study's authors, told MedicalNewsToday.com. "Chiropractic care appears to improve the ability of the body to adapt to stress."
 
5. Take Time to Relax

A stressful, anxiety-filled daily routine will wear you down, no matter how healthy your lifestyle may otherwise be. Managing your stress levels is something you need to devote time to daily, and a first step is often giving yourself permission to take time for yourself to unwind.

One simple way to promote relaxation in your muscles, joints, tendons and body overall is stretching. There are countless stretches for your body, but it takes just 15 of them to stretch 95 percent of your body, according to stretching expert and creator of the DVD Stretching Toward a Healthier Life, Jacques Gauthier. His Stretching Toward a Healthier Life DVD shows you all 15 of these most effective stretching exercises, and the full program takes just 15 to 20 minutes a day. These stretches actually feel good when you do them, and will leave you with a heightened sense of well-being and flexibility.

For those of you who need a little extra help relaxing, we highly recommend the Pure Relaxation: Guided Meditations for Body, Mind & Spirit CD by respected meditation expert Mary Maddux . The guided meditations and music on this CD calm your mind, soothe your emotions and create a state of deep relaxation in your body, even at the end of a busy, hectic day.

You should also make sure you’re getting enough sleep. When we sleep, the stress hormone, cortisol, is lowered, but when we are sleep deprived, cortisol levels rise. Further, your energy levels will go down and you'll be less able to cope with any setbacks during your day.

If you have further health concerns related to oxidative stress, muscle atrophy or “sittosis,” you should contact a knowledgeable health care practitioner. At your appointment, he or she can help you develop a plan for leading a healthy, disease-fighting lifestyle at any age.

Recommended Reading

“Sittosis” New Study Reveals Skyrocketing Death Rates from “Sitting”

Good Stress vs. Bad Stress? How to Lose Weight & Be Well With Good Stress Levels

Sources

EMBO Molecular Medicine September 30, 2009

LiveScience.com September 30, 2009

Medical News Today: Chiropractic Influence on Oxidative Stress and DNA Repair March 7, 2005