Part 2: The Body that Moves

Multiple randomized controlled trials, or consistent large cohort studies with a well-understood mechanism.

• Train balance and strength, especially after 60

  At least three days a week, practice single-leg stands, stepping, sit-to-stand or Tai Chi, plus resistance work; progress for at least 12 weeks and keep going.

  Topic 7

• Safety

  Up to half of people with diabetes have peripheral neuropathy. With diabetes, numb feet, poor leg circulation or past foot ulcers, do not go barefoot or switch to minimal shoes...

  Topic 7

• Move through the day, every day

  Use the step and weekly-minute targets in Chapter 40; the Tsimane pattern is hours of mostly light and moderate activity.

  Topic 8

• Raise your ceiling

  Steady endurance training and intervals both raise VO2 max, by about 5 mL/kg/min in trials of healthy adults aged 18 to 45, intervals slightly more.

  Topic 8

• Eat for potassium

  Build meals on fruit and vegetables, as DASH did, though that diet changed more than potassium. WHO suggests at least 3,510 mg of potassium a day from food.

  Topic 8

• If you salt at home, swap the shaker

  Potassium-enriched salt (about 25% potassium chloride) lowers systolic pressure by about 4-5 mmHg, and more where kitchens do the salting.

  Topic 8

• Keep salt under 5 g a day

  WHO's limit.

  Topic 8

• Know your numbers

  Some 44% of people with hypertension do not know it. Get checked, measure at home if your clinician advises, and never stop blood-pressure medicine on your own.

  Topic 8

• With lymphedema, work with a specialist

  Slowly progressive weight training, begun under supervision, did not worsen breast-cancer-related lymphedema in one trial.

  Topic 9

Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.

• Break up long sitting

  Every 20-30 minutes, walk for 2-5 minutes; walking beats standing. ●●○ (consistent short trials; long-term benefit unproven)

  Topic 6

• Move enough to cancel the chair

  About 30-40 minutes a day of moderate-to-vigorous activity (measured by motion sensor) weakens the link between long sitting and early death.

  Topic 6

• Take the stairs

  Climbing more than five flights (about 50 steps) a day was associated with 16-23% lower risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (disease of clogged arteries) in 458,860 UK...

  Topic 6

• Load your bones, and carry things

  In one randomized trial, 30 minutes of supervised high-intensity resistance and impact training twice a week for 8 months raised spine bone density 2.9% in postmenopausal women...

  Topic 6

• Test yourself once or twice a year

  In the sitting-rising test you sit down on the floor and stand up again, starting from 5 points for each movement and losing 1 for each hand or knee you use.

  Topic 6

• Give your feet work, gradually

  Walk in flat, flexible shoes with room for the toes, starting with about 30 minutes a day and building wear time over about 16 weeks.

  Topic 7

• Runners: take months, not weeks

  Do not change a comfortable heel strike just because it is one. Heavier runners, and those running over 35 km (22 miles) a week, fared worse in minimalist shoes in one trial.

  Topic 7

• At home after 65, wear shoes

  Choose low heels and firm, slip-resistant soles indoors and out, not socks or slippers. Practice barefoot balance only on a clear floor beside something solid to hold.

  Topic 7

• Treat HRV as a trend, not a target

  Training raises it; chasing a nightly score is a trap (Chapter 43).

  Topic 8

• Break up sitting and move your feet while seated

  No lymph dose has been tested, but a foot free to move swelled half as much as a still one over eight hours of sitting.

  Topic 9

• Walk daily

  A slow 15-minute walk widened the thoracic duct in a small study, and working leg muscles clear lymph three to six times faster than resting ones.

  Topic 9

• Sleep 7 or more hours regularly

  Topic 9

• Let your nose do the default work

  Breathe through it at rest, walking and asleep. Mouth breathing in hard exercise is normal, and nose-only breathing lowers peak output.

  Topic 10

• Slow, exhale-weighted breathing

  About five or six breaths a minute (say, four seconds in and six out) for 5-10 minutes, on most days; the blood-pressure trials ran for at least four weeks.

  Topic 10

Early, small, animal-only, or actively contested.

• Rest actively

  Sit on the floor, kneel or squat for short spells, holding a doorframe or using a low stool until your hips and ankles allow more.

  Topic 6

• On the toilet

  a footstool is cheap and may help some people. Leave the phone outside: smartphone use there was associated with 46% higher odds of hemorrhoids in one study.

  Topic 6

• On journeys over about four hours, keep moving

  Walk the aisle, flex your calves, take an aisle seat; the official advice rests on indirect evidence.

  Topic 9

• Deep breathing

  It did not significantly widen the thoracic duct in the same 2025 study; Chapter 10 covers breathing.

  Topic 9

• Cyclic sighing for a quick reset

  Inhale slowly through the nose, top up with a second short inhale, then exhale slowly and fully through the mouth, for up to five minutes.

  Topic 10

• Snoring with daytime sleepiness or witnessed pauses

  Get a sleep assessment before trying mouth tape. Never tape a blocked nose, and skip tape when you feel sick: sleep specialists worry about vomiting and inhaling it.

  Topic 10

• Hyperventilation and breath-holds: only sitting or lying on dry land

  Never practice them in or near water, in the bath or while driving. Skip them if you are pregnant or have heart disease or a seizure disorder, and stop if you feel dizzy: low...

  Topic 10