I have been without a car for much of the past few weeks. I was not comfortable cycling for various reasons, so I pulled out my transit pass and started using the bus. My step count went way up.
This isn’t entirely surprising. I have to walk further than my driveway to get to the bus stop, and connecting buses and final destinations do not always align perfectly with bus stops.
It was rather fun to take the bus; definitely more social, and less pressure on me to navigate to where I was going. And because I’m cheap, I often walked to places that were relatively close because I didn’t want to pay $4.00.
Better health outcomes from using public transit isn’t news. OCTranspo has listed a bunch of studies here. This meta-analysis considered 27 studies, of which 9 reported on absolute measures of physical activity associated with public transport and further 18 papers reported on factors associated with physical activity as part of public transport use. A range of 8–33 additional minutes of walking was identified from this systematic search as being attributable to public transport use.
Of course, good integration of transit modes is what will encourage people to get out of their cars and use public and active transit, so this image from a study by UITP on exactly that issue seems perfect.
Pedestrians use a crosswalk while cyclists on a separated bike path wait for them to cross. There is a tram and another vehicle that may be a bus, and two large bike parking areas full of bikes. In the far background, you can see one car and possibly a truck.
Last week I outlined my plans for April and I thought I made things pretty easy for myself.
And I kind of did.
But, apparently, not quite easy enough.
It turns out that a mindful cup of tea – clear break- in the afternoon is a lovely addition to my day.
My days have felt a bit calmer.
I have gotten to have tea with friends three times, including tea with my sister Denise on her birthday.
I just feel really good about making a point to stop for tea and a rest.
And I’m sure that yoga would have a similar calming effect and would feel great for my body and my brain…
If I could remember to do it.
I mean, technically speaking, I have done yoga daily because I did a few focused stretches and a little time in Savasana (corpse pose) before heading to bed.
But that wasn’t what I had intended to do each evening.
My plan was to do a 10 minute yoga video before bed so a few stretches and some time in Savasana was not the kind of practice I was seeking.
Instead, it’s the kind of practice I end up doing when I realize moments before bed that I don’t have enough energy to do 10 minutes of movement – even gentle, restful movement.
So, since the tea practice is coming to me fairly easily, I will just let that one roll along and I will focus on figuring out how to remember to do that 10 minutes of yoga before I am too tired.
This week, I’ll experiment with setting an alarm for 9pm and see if that makes things easier.
And once I’m done my daily yoga, I’ll probably even have another cup of tea.*
Image description: A photo of the edit-alarm screen on my phone. The background is black and there are settings for the time (9:00 PM), Repeat (daily), Label (Yay for Yoga!), Sound (Constellation), Snooze (option is on),This isn’t from this week, I just like this photo. Image description: a large glass mug decorated with stars is sitting on a wooden table. The mug is partially full of tea (a tea bag is still in the mug and the white tag is hanging over the side) and next to it is a green post-it note that has the word reminder at the top and below it is a drawing of a robot pointing to a sign that reads ‘Everyone needs to recharge!’
*Don’t worry about me drinking tea at 9pm. Mostly it’s ginger-peach tea but even if I have caffeine at that hour it won’t keep me up – this may or may not be related to my ADHD.
I’m starting April while on a school storytelling tour with my friend Catherine (not blogger Catherine, a whole other marvellous Catherine) so the month is truly off to a good start.
Storytelling is great for my mental health and the fact that I am taking a break from my usual routine AND hanging out with a dear friend compounds the positive effects.
And this tour has been good for my physical health too because Catherine is a big proponent of finding energy by getting outdoors. So there have already been several times when her choice to go for a walk has shifted me into a more active rest mode after a busy day instead of just sitting around.
(To be clear, there are times when sitting around would be the right thing to do but in this case the walk felt waaaaaaaay better.)
Since the month is starting on such a positive note I have decided to add more positive health elements.
1. I found out yesterday that April is Afternoon Tea Month which is definitely a made-up kind of commemoration but as an avid maker-up-of-things, I’m here for it.
I’m going to celebrate by taking an afternoon tea break every day.
I can hear my sisters’ voices as I write that, “Chris, don’t you already drink tea every afternoon?”
And the answer is “Of course I do!”
But my April plan to to focus on the ritual of it, the making of the tea, the clearing of mental space, the sitting down to drink it.
This isn’t going to be a ‘drink tea at my desk while working’ kind of thing, it’s going to be an actual break in my afternoon.
One of my favourite cups for tea (a gift from my friend Mary) Image description: a cup of tea sitting on a small mat on my table with my ebook slightly out of focus in the background. My cup has a blue octopus on the side (only part of it is visible) and it has an ice cream cone held in one of its tentacles.
So that’s a small April addition for my mental health, now on to my physical health.
2) I mentioned last week that I am following the Active April calendar so that is staying part of the plan but I am also going to really commit to evening yoga (again!) and I have made a YouTube playlist to choose from each day.
And since I know sometimes get stuck in the decision making process, I am giving myself the default that if I can’t pick one, I have to choose the video immediately after the one from the night before.
I have often done evening yoga before and I throughly enjoy it when I do but I have gotten out of the habit so this is as good a time as any to get started again.
My continuing quest to improve my posture and knee health has taken me down the weird road of re-learning to walk. I didn’t quite realize that was what I was doing until I read Breath, by James Nestor. He writes about a multi-year drought project to learn about breathing, and how it has affected his health.
Obviously, I know how to walk. What I’m less good at is walking with my shoulders back, my torso lifted, and my head and feet at optimal angles. My new habit is to walk during my shifts on desk at the pool. I wiggle my shoulders to remind them to be wide both front and back. I peek at my reflection to make sure my feet are facing forward, rather than turned out like a duck’s.
I walk backwards sometimes (most of the benefits may be overstated, but it’s a good way for me to keep scanning the pool as I move around). I walk sideways. Sometimes I stop and go up on my toes 20 times, or do little leg lifts.
A Lego image of a lifeguard wearing a red bathing suit and pinny.
Similarly, I am trying a few of the techniques in Breath. I breathe in through my nose and exhale slowly out my mouth as much as possible when exercising. Sometimes I try box breathing, especially when I’m trying to relax. Occasionally, I’ll even do a bit of yoga alternate nostril breathing. The rest of the time, I focus on breathing only through my nose, at least when I’m awake. I have not yet resorted to taping or strapping my mouth shut for sleep, though I confess to having considered it.
Mina wrote recently about some of the alternative medicine things she is trying alongside her prescription medications. I thought it was an interesting approach.
Like Mina, I’m just doing them as entertaining supplements to my physiotherapy and prescribed medications. I think they’re helping a little. If not, that’s fine; they won’t hurt me (as long as I don’t trip).
It’s been a long, cold winter, and I work a few days a week from home, so I’m inside at my desk a lot right now. When a friend told me she uses a Cubii whenever she works at her desk I went online to see about it (as one does).
The Cubii is one of many (many) under-desk elliptical and cycling trainers, ranging from about $150-$450 (if you don’t count the high-end ones). They claim to be small, silent, and easy enough to be peddled for exercise while one sits doing office work. The Cubii looks simple and convenient, though if I bought one it might join all of my other doo-dads I have bought over the years for simple and convenient exercise…now gathering dust.
Pedal trainers join many (many) other devices that are sold for exercise at one’s desk: isometric standing devices, standing desk mats with ridges for stretching, disc wobble cushions, gyro balls, and smart water bottles. I remember when at one time there was only the stabilizer ball that you sat on instead of a chair. Now you can buy an entire work station that doubles as exercise machinery.
Various people sitting on exercise balls at desks, a google image search
Awhile ago I read an article by Eryk Salvaggio (2024), “Challenging the Myths of Generative AI”, that has stuck with me. The piece focuses on how, based on misunderstandings about how AI works, certain myths are shaping how we justify AI’s importance and reshaping how we think about ourselves and what we do.
For example, AI is widely regarded as useful because it is understood to save time. (Frequent users know this may not be true depending on how complex the task, how good one’s prompting skills are, and how critical one is about the output). The productivity myth underlying this valuation is the automation of work. If is AI is good because it saves time, then automating more of our work with AI is good because it will save more time. In this AI-infused workflow cycle, where saving time with AI is better than working without it, the automation of work itself becomes the preferred norm.
Put another way, has anyone encouraged using AI to help complete a task more slowly because that task is worth spending time on?
I just spent a bunch of time explaining that idea (thanks for sticking with me) because the productivity myth may take a related form in the world of desk exercise equipment. This equipment is sold as a healthy remedy for the harms of sedentary office work, but it also produces a new idea that exercising while working is good. We save time because we are doing both at once, but in doing so our relationships to work and exercise change.
In “optimizing” work time also as exercise time (or using exercise time to work) then neither work nor exercise needs to be (should be?) the single focus of our time. Whether we are effective working while exercising, or exercising in safe form or duration while working, is beside the point.
Of course, no one lives in this purely either/or world: you can use your Cubii at your desk and still go curling later in the day. And, not every minute of our work day is likely to suffer if we were to divide our attention with light exercise once in awhilr. For fidgety people like myself, physical activity of some sort might indeed promote increased focus during certain tasks.
Furthermore, if you want to exercise at work, you can certainly avoid commodifying it by passing on the costly exercise equipment and opting for brief stretching or body weight exercises. Most importantly, I am certainly not refusing the vast evidence that prolonged seated work is bad for one’s health.
But…in reviewing many review pages of Cubiis (and their first and second cousins) I began reflecting on how serving the myth of productivity means we may be more more likely to buy things that will help us to squeeze more out of our time without questioning the squeezing. When it is always better to optimize by going faster or doing two things at once, we may start to care less about what we are actually doing than how long it takes us to get to the next thing.
Way back when I started seeing a physiotherapist, my biggest complaint was my knees. However, my shoulder that became a frozen shoulder and torn rotator cuff trumped the knee issues. But now that the shoulder is in good shape and I know how to keep it that way, we are finally returning to my knees.
Step one: assessment that confirms the crunching and grinding I hear when I bend is not normal. To do: book an appointment with my doctor to see about getting a proper assessment for arthritis.
Step two: test the muscles surrounding my knees to figure out what else is going on. The constant quad and IT band pain are also not normal, and they are impeding my ability to stand up unassisted, or even use the stairs comfortably.
Diagnosis so far? Quads that are massively overcompensating for my underperforming glutes. So tight, in fact, that my quads are pulling my kneecaps up and out of alignment. they are probably a significant factor in causing my bunions, too.
My immediate future looks like a lot of clamshells using a band, leg lifts slightly to the back to engage and strengthen my glute and hamstring muscles.
Not like this! Four images of Jane Fonda doing various leg lifts in the early 1970s, complete with skimpy body suit and leg warmers.
There will also sessions with a rolling pin, and just hanging around with my leg elevated behind me to stretch out those quads.
So far, my lifts are very tiny. Sometimes it feels like I am only thinking about lifting the leg, not moving at all. But my butt has definitely been engaged!
What do I hope to achieve? Deeper pliés in dance class, a decent flutter kick when swimming, and knees and feet that don’t hurt every time I move. Honestly, I would settle for the last two.
As you read this, my Peglyte is chilling in the fridge, waiting for me to start the cleansing preparations for tomorrow’s colonoscopy.
The process is horrible. The liquid I need to drink tastes terrible and I need to take anti-nausea medication just to get most of it down.
The devil welcomes two people to hell, where their eternal punishment is colonoscopy prep. Source: cartoonstock.com
I will be thoroughly grumpy because I can’t eat all day so will go to dance class hungry. I’ll start drinking the liquid immediately after class. The big trick will be whether I can hand out treats to the kiddies.
I will not regret doing this no matter how unpleasant. Colon cancer is a horrible disease. Women are almost as likely to get it as men, though you would never know that by looking at internet images; almost all of them show men. And the risk increases with age, so do start doing the FIT test if you haven’t already, and follow up on your results..
Belated happy Earth Day. I wish I were actually happier about it. Instead, I have come to realize that I am a bundle of climate anxiety.
I used to love to travel and all my bucket list items included exotic locations. Now, I struggle to convince myself it’s okay to drive to the cottage property I own.
I am looking at e-bike options that have the battery power to get me there, and solar panel set-ups so I can recharge batteries to get home again. Right now I’m torn between the Tern GSD (cute and very useful in the city but shorter range) and the Tern Orox (designed for camping adventures, but still requiring a battery boost to get home, and maybe too big to fit into my storage area with all the other bikes).
On top, a Blue Tern GD e-cargo bike with a passenger seat on the back. Below two adults ride Tern Orox e-bikes through the woods. One is loaded with gear, while the other has a child on the back.
I have even debated whether I could use my acoustic bike to get there. 95 km and steep hills strongly suggests “no”.
Once I arrive at the property, will I be able to cook, or will we be under a burn ban or at wildfire smoke advisory again? I have a small camp stove for emergencies, but normally I cook over an open fire, so I’m weighing the merits of various solar cookers.
If I spend a lot of time at the cottage, who will take care of my gardens? I have two small community garden plots, plus my front yard which is mostly given over to herbs, plants that attract pollinators and whatever I can grow in large planters on the walkway, and some fruit bushes and a small bed with asparagus and onions in the back yard.
Gardening and eating local is partly how I manage my anxiety. I’m forced to eat seasonal foods and almost nothing comes wrapped in plastic. I’m not quite full-on vegetarian yet, but I’m getting there because I hate buying plastic-wrapped meat in plastic trays, and because of the greenhouse gas impacts of meat vs beans.
Fortunately, almost everything survives heat and drought fairly well. Unfortunately, I’m not a very good gardener, so aside from green beans and garlic, there is no way I could feed myself for more than a few meals each year.
Other ways to cope? Buying less, buying used, plogging, using the 2Good2Go app and volunteering with Hidden Harvest Ottawa to rescue food that would otherwise go to waste. And volunteering with Bike Ottawa to advocate for safe active transit infrastructure. Somehow that has morphed into supporting denser, walkable mixed-use communities and improved public transit, as well. All those things will help reduce carbon emissions x eventually.
Will it be enough? Not on its own, but at least it keeps me busy and keeps the climate anxiety from morphing into full-on existential dread. I hope.
Diane and other volunteers at the Bike Ottawa display for an Earth Day event in Ottawa.
I started biking year-round in Ottawa last year and fell in love with cycling in a whole new way. I have previously written about it here.
Since then, I did acquire those pogies, coloured lights for my wheels, and a new ski jacket and snow pants which have really helped on the coldest days. I have even been experimenting with ski goggles and a ski helmet for greater warmth.
A bicycle parked in a snowy yard. You can’t see much except orange and green lights on the wheels, white fairy lights along the frame, a red rear light and a white front light that highlights the front basket.
What is less joyful is my actual route to work. Like much of Ottawa’s cycling network, it disappears under mounds of snow and ice pushed off the roads and stored in bike lanes. The same is true of our city’s sidewalks, despite promises to prioritize the people most vulnerable to injury in winter: the elderly, those with disabilities, the people pushing strollers, and the folks who rely on transit, whether by choice or because they can’t afford a car (often single parents, indigenous, people of colour and new immigrants).
In that sense, I’m relatively privileged. I have the flexibility to avoid traveling during peak rush hours, and I am able-bodied and fearless enough to ride a bicycle in traffic, so get to take advantage of the streets that are bare and dry, rather than struggling on icy sidewalks and clambering over windrows left when street ploughs fill in what the sidewalk ploughs just cleared.
If we are serious about addressing climate change, reducing pollution, access to jobs, improving our physical and mental health, and reducing injuries and deaths caused by collisions, we need more access to separated bike lanes. A large study of European cities showed huge increases in bike use when cycling lanes were added.
Sure, we’re not Europe, but take a look at what Montreal has done. The city has been making major investments in bike lanes, and prioritizing them for snow clearance in winter. The result has been massive growth in winter cycling by all sorts of people.
I talk mostly about bike lanes, but pedestrians benefit from many of the things cyclists want – narrower streets, raised crosswalks, safer intersections, improved and accessible public transit, cleared routes, more green spaces and places to rest, have a drink, and enjoy being outdoors.
I can’t fix all those things on my own, but I have discovered a host of allies from Halifax to Victoria, San Diego to Utrecht, who are all working to make cycling and walking safer in their communities. And I have been encouraging colleagues to give cycling a try, at least some of the time – every ride that replaces a car trip helps the environment. There is strength in numbers too, as we are more visible so drivers tend to be more aware.
A mid-January start to #FrostBike season is very late for Ottawa, but maybe – just maybe – my choice of transportation mode will help turn the tide towards cooler temperatures and longer seasons in future, and help make my city a more equitable place to live.
Diane kitted out in a colourful snow jacket, wearing a bike helmet and blue ski goggles. Only her serious mouth and a bit of her nose are visible.
Now I’m feeling less grumpy than when I first drafted this post. It was -23C with the wind chill, and the ski helmet adds considerably to my warmth. It was a great ride especially compared to the snowy conditions going home last night. But honestly? Even a tough ride is better than no ride at all.
Person in a colourful jacket, grey ski helmet, goggles and a black cloth over her face so only her nose is exposed. You can’t see it, but she is smiling.
Back in October I wrote about my frozen shoulder. At the time, I was mostly thinking about the importance of doing my exercises. Since then, I have connected with numerous women friends who are also suffering from frozen shoulder, or who have had it in the recent past.
There have been countless posts on this blog about gender biases in health – obesity, heart health, concussion, even feet. That’s just the first few that showed up in a quick search. A fabulous Radiolab podcast called “The Unsilencing”, about autoimmune diseases in women and the research (or lack of it) into causes, got me adding a new one to the of under-researched ailments felt predominantly by women: frozen shoulder.
There are all kinds of articles stating categorically that there is no direct link between menopause and frozen shoulder, even though the majority of sufferers are women between the ages of 45 and 60. There are a few studies that show hormone replacement therapy can help. Relaxin, which is produced during pregnancy, can reverse symptoms (just like estriol did for women suffering MS in that podcast). Estrogen can help prevent frozen shoulder from developing.
My shoulder is getting somewhat better, but my physiotherapist is recommending an ultrasound to see what else is going on, as it is still far too weak and inflexible after eight months of therapy. She immediately offered to write me a letter too, since her experience is that too many doctors don’t take it seriously.
I tried to find an entertaining image to finish this post on a relatively poorly understood aspect of women’s health, but all were of men. So you get a penguin with a frozen shoulder.
