fitness | Finding delight.

How are you this week, my friends? This one started out rough so I hope you are taking sweet and gentle care of yourselves. I hope you are finding ways to laugh and hugging your loved ones tight. Love is love is love is love. I long for a time when senseless tragedies didn’t feel so familiar, but encourage us all to keep fighting for a world where they aren’t. In the wake of what was happening in the world, I was super lucky to have my mom visiting over the last few days. We saw a cool art exhibit, checked out a farmers market, took tons of pictures of tropical plants, and lounged at the beach. What a fun few days! She flew back to Lexington yesterday afternoon but I’ll be headed that way too in just two short weeks. Wedding countdown and all that. Eeps! Alright my dears, have a good week, and check out the links below…

The story behind a failed Chinese investment is stranger than it seems.

Paying a premium for fancy bottled water.

20 renter-friendly decor ideas.

How Instagram stars bring home the bacon.

A parody of every TED Talk ever.

The incredible story of a man who survived 20 hours treading water in the Gulf of Mexico.

Mother Teresa: Sinner or Saint?

Made me laugh.

11 ways to eat healthy on a budget.

Do you set skill based or aesthetics based goals?

What a beautiful couple. My heart is broken.

More than blood.

Vertically bouncing up and down first became an exercise for physical health in 1938 when an inventor produced the first miniature trampoline. While it’s not an exercise regimen you see a lot of folks flocking to (it may bring to mind an aerobics-wear clad woman of the ‘80s, scrunchied ponytail bouncing with a fervor) REBOUNDING has a lot of documented health benefits. Most notably, it’s ability to stimulate lymph circulation. Because the force of gravity actually increases each time you land you get a strong flow of lymph fluid running throughout the lymph channels and nodes as opposed to the trickling flow that happens during regular day activities.

CJ Puotinen explains in the Jan/Feb 2014 Well Being Journal, “On the rebounder, it takes about two minutes to pump lymph fluid from the feet all the way up into the thoracic duct area.” But, you may be wondering, why is lymph circulation so important? Well, the lymph system is an important aspect of the immune system–it removes waste from cells throughout the body. You may be more familiar with the concept of lymph nodes (especially when they’re swollen) but the lymph is a clearish-yellowish fluid that hangs out inside those nodes and contains your immune system’s infection fighting lymphocytes.

The main organ of your lymph system is the spleen which acts as a regeneration center for blood. Your spleen breaks down old red blood cells and uses their iron for new hemoglobin. AND it makes more lymphocytes which in turn flow through your tissues and knock out most infections before they can enter your bloodstream. Fairly important stuff! Toxins can get all up in your business and if your lymph drainage is impaired or the flow is constricted they collect, pool and lead to trouble.

You may have insufficient lymph circulation and not even realize. Some common warning signs include edema, dark circles, swollen ankles or legs and cellulite. So rebounding seems like a fun way to keep the lymph flowing nicely! I would love to invest in one of these…

from Target,

from Carter Fitness,

or from Amazon.

and maybe start bouncing with one of these routines…