February is Heart Health Awareness Month. Cardiovascular diseases claim more lives than all forms of cancer combined. Yikes. Here are some strategies for taking care of YOUR heart.
Move your body! Gadgets galore track your steps – go for 10,000 a day! Dance, swim, take a yoga class.
Put your heart on your grocery list: Opt for oatmeal, salmon, berries of many hues. Enjoy our fab heart-healthy Florida oranges and avocados.
Know your numbers. Keep tabs on your blood pressure, monitor your heart rate during exercise, watch your weight.
Take your Doc’s advice: Don’t smoke, avoid saturated fats and limit your sugar intake.
Dial back stress! Don’t overpromise, leave “white space” in your calendar, relax with friends, curl up with a book, nap. Book a massage, we think it’s an awesome way to relax.
Amazing athletes show up in our massage chairs: beginners, amateurs, seasoned pros and even the top tier elite athletes! The US Olympic diving team (and their coaches) recently training in Orlando, found their way into our chairs! During the annual Arnold Palmer Invitational Golf Tournament, golfers and golf fans alike find us. And year-round, Disney Marathoners show up to relax and restore in our chairs (before or after) their races.
After all, competitive athletics and massage therapy go waaaay back – all the way to 776 BC (the Greek Olympics). Massage warms and loosens muscles before a competition and helps to reduce swelling and pain afterwards. Massage soothes the central nervous system, improves range of motion, reduces muscle fatigue and promotes healing. Today massage is highly sought out by athletes in all sports, at all levels, all over the world.
Athletes, like the rest of us, also appreciate chair massage – it’s efficient, effective, affordable, and convenient. Since chair massage relieves tension, reduces pain, relieves headaches and promotes well-being – it’s a win for athletes at any level, regardless of their goals or their outcomes.
More than you might imagine! A 2012 study at MIT discovered that driving in city traffic can be as stressful as jumping from a plane. I-4 shoots us daily through the heart of Orlando – a heavy stream of traffic moving at variable, unpredictable speeds through winding construction zones. Add tourists – or a few kids in the backseat – shake, stir and presto: the conditions favoring the “Ultimate” stress level are achieved, simply trying to get from here to there.
Commute Much? A 2012 study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that the farther people commute by vehicle, the higher their blood pressure (BP) and body mass index (BMI). Since re-construction of I-4, optimistically dubbed, “I-4 Ultimate”, is scheduled to continue until 2021 (YIKES), best buckle yourself in and adjust your driving strategies to manage your speed, space and stress. Orlando, let’s pull together, survive together and (eventually) cross the finish line, alive and well!
New Year – New You? We chose a resolution that inspires us to be more active, healthier and have fun. We registered for this year’s IOA Corporate 5K in downtown Orlando. While we’re downloading the C25K (CouchTo5K) app, read our 5 Reasons to Run/Walk a 5K:
We plan to lose some of our carefully-curated Holiday pounds.
We can shop for some cool running shoes and blinky lights to go on ’em.
We aspire to hang out with more of our Orlando “sole” mates.
We’ll create some awesome new Take 5 Massage Corporate 5K team shirts.
We’ll make lots of new friends who really, really NEED massage.
For many Floridians, fall means hopping into your car and heading north in search of brilliant vistas of fall foliage backlit by pure, blue autumnal skies. Pulling over for a few roadside stands, their bounty often offers fresh-squeezed apple cider, boiled peanuts, piles of home-grown pumpkins and/or jars of local Appalachian honey. Here’s a cool interactive map of Fall Foliage Prediction Map. We’ll miss you while you’re gone, but post plenty of pics so we can all enjoy your adventures.
Road Trip Tips for Floridian Leaf Peepers:
1) Plan your overnight stays. Hotels, B&Bs and especially campsites book up.
2) Choose your routes. There are many scenic highways and byways to explore.
3) Use your GPS to alter your route & discover rural before-the-interstate highways.
4) Carve out some time for local Festivals, farmer’s markets and flea markets.
5) Avoid back pain. Stretch on your stops, swap drivers when possible and pack an ice pack.
Thousands of Florida massage therapists renew their licenses every two years and more become newly licensed each year. One thing we can guarantee them, there are many of us who want massage and then there are those of us who really, REALLY NEED massage.
5 Guaranteed Ways To Join the “Back Wrecking” Club:
1. Tech Neck: Craning to read and respond to text messages, slumping over your laptop or tablet, straining to read your monitor, or even slumping for hours on your cushy sofa watching TV. 2. Schlepping Heavy Stuff: Cramming your tote, purse or briefcase full of lots of heavy stuff can cause back, neck and shoulder pain. Carrying or strapping that load on one side of your body or slung over one shoulder adds insult to injury. (We even have some tuba-toting customers too.) 3. Slouching: Do you round your shoulders while perched in your office chair, reading, or driving? If so, before you know it, gravity is no longer your friend. (Fun Fact: did you know that an average human head weighs about 10 to 12 pounds?) 4. Faulty Foot Wear: Tip-toeing around in high heels, flitting around in your iconic Florida flip flops, or running fleet-of- foot in worn out, deflated sneakers or thinly-soled All Stars can shoot pain right up your spine. 5. Gym Addiction: Sometimes even a really good thing can go wrong. Exercising the incorrectly, too much or too often can put stress and strain on your spine, causing pain and possibly even injury.
