An opportunity to help others in need.Participants of our Thanksgiving morning workout donated non-perishable food items to benefit Grand Haven Centrals Food Pantry. We will continue to collect donations until Monday at noon if anyone else would like to bring in items. Specific needs include PB & Jelly, Mac n Cheese, and canned soups. ... See MoreSee Less

3 weeks ago  ·  

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Our celebration of men’s health month at i’move continues.

Instead of growing moustaches this month as “movember” suggests, we are celebrating the wisdom of other dudes who just happen to have amazing moustaches. We started with Hercule Poirot, and last week was Tom Selleck. Today though we get in touch with our inner superman by sharing some of the wisdom of Friedrick Nietzsche.

Nietzsche was a German philosopher, poet, cultural critic, and great grower of facial hair who lived in the second half of the 19th century. In his novel Thus Spoke Zarathustra, he wrote “And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh.”

Many have argued over the years if Nietzsche was speaking figuratively or literally with this quote. Either way, there is some wisdom here.

When most men think about taking better care of themselves, they don’t think of dancing, but dancing has several health benefits.

• Going out dancing socially can qualify as cardiovascular exercise as you tend to dance for a long time
• Dancing allows muscles and joints to move through a full range of motion (unless you have my hips). Unlike most exercises at the gym, dancing uses the entire body, moving three-dimensionally which improves balance and coordination. This is very useful as we age as dancing can decrease the risk of falling.
• Dancing has been shown to improve memory. Recent research on a group of 60-80 year old’s randomly assigned the people to one of three exercise groups: walking, balance activities, and learning country line dancing. Of the three groups, the dancers had less brain deterioration on MRI than the other groups.
• Recreational dancing has been shown to decrease stress, and rhythmic motion can set off the body’s release of endorphins which is similar to a “runners high” which can boost your mood.
• There are social aspects of dance as well, and additional friendships and relationships can result. Getting on a treadmill in your basement isn’t socializing.

It doesn’t take a genius like Nietzsche to combine the concepts of dancing and laughing. Anyone who have seen me dance can see the connection without any trouble. Like dancing, laughing also has many health benefits.

• Laughter has been shown to decrease stress hormones while increasing secretion of healthy hormones like endorphins. Laughing improves our immune system
• A big laugh causes strong contractions of your abdomen, diaphragm and shoulders. It’s a much more pleasant way to address your gut than doing crunches.
• Laughing can serve as a distraction from all the maddening things surrounding us, decreasing our stress and improving our moods.
• Laughter has social benefits just like dancing, connecting us with others. Laughter is contagious, so if others see you laughing, it brings them health benefits as well.

You don’t have to be a professional dancer to realize the health benefits of dancing. Likewise, even pretending to laugh at your coworker’s bad jokes can lead to the health benefits described above.

So don’t let your day be lost; next song you hear, bust a move. You’re doing it to improve your health, and all the laughing around you is helping those watching! ... See MoreSee Less

3 weeks ago  ·  

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