What Does a Good Spring Cleaning Look Like?
After the energy lull that many experience during the winter, there’s a sense of renewal brought on by warmer temperatures and more frequent sunshine. Exposure to more sunlight gives people a burst of energy that often results in a project mindset, and channeling that energy into creating a clean, organized space actually has some health benefits. While spring cleaning most often results in a more tidy physical environment, it can also clear out some of the metaphor cobwebs too. Read on!
When you participate in quiet, repetitive behaviors such as scrubbing or rinsing, it can turn cleaning into a mindfulness practice. These actions, and the resulting sense of order, can calm you, but also quietly energize you to boost operations in your newly organized space. While clutter is overwhelming, an orderly, streamlined environment can inspire you into action.
For some people, spring cleaning is a form of stress management because it contributes to a drop in the anxiety and lack of control they feel when they’re surrounded by a buildup of clutter or dust. Mastery over your environment is one way to turn overwhelming feelings into a sense of control.
Since we are a chiropractic practice, we are largely concerned with your back health, and therefore recommend drawing up a plan of attack for tidying and disinfecting before jumping into action. If you’re going to clean under things that you know haven’t been moved for a long time, solicit someone to help you. When lifting a heavy object such as a sofa or dining table, there’s a risk of long-term back problems, including a herniated disc in the lumbar region. Employing a proper lifting technique can reduce the chance of injury.
Protect yourself from back injuries using a step-by-step process:
- Widen your stance keeping one foot slightly in front of the other
- Hold the object close to your body
- Squat, bending only at the hips and knees, when lifting and setting down an object
- Keep your back upright, looking straight ahead
- Take small steps and move without twisting
- Change direction by leading with your hips
Being intentional about movement of any kind can connect you to the activity in a way that is new. The goal is to avoid injury, but an added benefit can be to simply create a mindful practice that can be used in just about any scenario.
We encourage you visit us to develop a program that includes stretching to loosen stiff muscles and get moving again after a long winter. Chiropractic treatment will also provide you with relief for aching muscles or injuries that may occur. We look forward to seeing you!