Bouncing

Can you think of anything more joyous than bouncing? I can't. I love to bounce. That feeling of being weightless, free from gravity's pull, is so liberating even if only for a split second. It's taken me two years to get to the point where I could do any kind of sustained exercise and bouncing was my first port of call. At the moment, I am only doing five minutes a day, but can already feel a huge difference.

Photo courtesy of J Clarke

Bouncing is also one of the healthiest forms of exercise you can do. It's main benefit, as I see it, is that it stimulates the lymphatic system, which is basically the body's garbage disposal. Bouncing is great at opening and closing our millions of one-way lymph valves, a process which rids the body of toxins, dead cells, cancerous cells, bacteria, viruses, fatty globules (oh, yes!), trapped protein and all other manner of junk that the cells throw off. You can only activate the lymphatic system through exercise, gravitational pull or massage, so bouncing is perfect as it does all three!

And just check out this list of its other benefits:

• no jarring on impact (so good for the joints)
• profound detoxification (good for increasing alkalinity)
• improves agility and balance
• slows the ageing process
• relieves pain (especially neck and back pain, and headaches)
• moves aqueous fluid in the eyes (good for vision)
• moves cerebral-spinal fluid (good for the brain)
• reduces body fat
• curtails fatigue and menstrual discomfort
• allows for easier relaxation and deeper sleep
• increases cellular strength (good for the immune system)
• stimulates all internal organs, including intestines (good for digestive problems)
• stabilizes the nervous system (good for reducing stress)
• increases oxygenation (good for improved respiratory function)
• reduces "bad" cholesterol levels (good for staving off coronary artery disease)
• tones up the glandular system (good for thyroid problems)

Really, why wouldn't you do it?! The most exciting thing for me while doing this research, though, was to discover how much good it does for the heart. By gently strengthening the heart muscle and moving the blood so effectively, it lightens the heart's load, allows the resting heart to beat less often and prevents edema, so I hope my cardiologist will be suitably impressed when I have my next appointment. So, what's stopping you: get out there and get bouncing!