Being healthy takes work. For some direction, Dr. Frank Lipman offers six areas to focus on (eat, sleep, move, protect, unwind, connect) in his new book, “How to Be Well: The Six Keys to a Happy and Healthy Life.” Under “move,” that includes a morning mobility drill that you can do the second you wake up to start the day on the right foot. He shared the drill with amNewYork:
MORNING MOBILITY DRILL
Do the following five-minute mobility drill in the morning before you get out of bed. It will “prime the pump” for the day ahead, ensuring your joints move fluidly and countering stiffness and soreness. Basically, it reminds your body how to move after a night of lying down. Try it for a week and see if your movement throughout the day — and any workout you do later — feels smoother and more comfortable. Do the moves lying down on your back, in any order you like, repeating each movement 10 times.
ARMS
Wrist rolls: Raise your arms straight toward the ceiling. Roll your wrists in circles, clockwise and counterclockwise.
Scapular shrugs: Raise your arms straight toward the ceiling, elbows locked. Push upward so your scapula (shoulder blades) rise off the bed, then release.
Overhead reaches: Raise your arms straight toward the ceiling, palms facing up and fingers interlaced. Reach your hands as high and as far back toward the headboard or wall behind you as possible. Return to the starting position and repeat.
Reach and pulse: With your hands on the headboard or wall behind you, push in pulses while pressing the small of your back into the mattress.
Prayer stretch: Clasping your hands in front of your face, with your elbows and forearms glued together at 90 degrees to your torso, reach your hands over and behind you to the back wall. Then return them in front of you and, with your elbows at your belly button, stretch clasped hands toward your feet, forearms still glued together. This should be one smooth movement. In prayer pose, do wrist rolls, clockwise and counterclockwise.
Forearm circles: Extend one arm straight above the shoulder. Keeping the arm locked straight and upper arm stationary, circle the forearm in big circles, aiming to get your thumb close to your bicep. Repeat with your other arm.
LEGS
Ankle rolls: Start with your legs straight and relaxed. Make big circles with your feet, clockwise and counterclockwise.
Point and flex: Start with your legs straight and relaxed. Point your toes to the bed then flex the foot the opposite way. (You can do both feet at once.)
Knee circles: Start with your legs straight and relaxed. Lift one knee up to 90 degrees and circle your foot in the air, drawing a big radius with your toe, clockwise and counterclockwise. Repeat with your other leg.
Hip swivels: Bend your legs and place your feet hip-distance apart, halfway to your hips. Swivel your hips from side to side, allowing your knee to fall toward your opposite heel.
Eggbeaters: Do knee circles with both legs at once, feeling the movement in your hips.
HEAD AND NECK
Chin to chest: Tuck your chin inward, stretching the back of your neck.
Chin-ups: Keeping your head flat and looking at the ceiling, reach your face upward to the ceiling, lifting your neck off the bed.
Side to side: Shake your head “no.”
Ear to shoulder: Stretch your right ear to your right shoulder, stretching the left side of your neck. Switch sides.
Excerpted from “How to Be Well” by Frank Lipman, MD. Copyright © 2018 by Frank Lipman, MD. Illustrations by Giacomo Bagnara. Used by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
