After festivals, how to take care of yourself in 2025

Ergonomics and posture are a big part of how we hold our body and move and the reason for much of the pains that each of us develops

Today is officially the start of resolution season. You know what I mean. We have eaten more Diwali sweets and Christmas cake than is good for us. Time to stop, we tell ourselves. Time to take charge of our health, habits and goals. The question is how.

We have eaten more Diwali sweets and Christmas cake than is good for us. Time to stop, we tell ourselves. Time to take charge of our health, habits and goals (File photo)

I subscribe to many fitness podcasts, read self-help books and follow a routine that is based on convenience rather than medical advice. So imagine my delight when I heard two actionable items from Dr Devi Shetty, the eminent cardiac surgeon. Dr Shetty was talking about diabetes - rampant in India - and how HbA1C was a marker for longevity.

“When you are in your eighties, the one marker that will define the quality of your future life is your HbA1C levels,” he said. So keeping your sugar levels in check is something that all of us need to do. How to do this? “Don’t stop eating sweets,” he says. “Instead put a small piece of sweet into your mouth and keep it there. Let it take its time and melt. This will tell the neurotransmitters in the brain that they are satiated.” The other thing Dr Shetty talks about is timed walks. “After each meal, take a 15 minute walk,” he tells patients with diabetes. “That’s like getting an insulin shot.”

So there you are. Two actionable items. Savour a piece of sweet and take a walk after each meal. Each one of us can do that. Keeping the habit though is difficult. I discover this when I visit Radha Krishnaswamy, a functional strength trainer in Indiranagar. I am there for an analysis of my posture, pain, gait and pronation. Over the course of an hour, Radha takes photos of how I stand, squat, lunge, lift my arms and move my legs. I discover that I am involuntarily leaning right. I also learn that my thighs and core need strengthening. Radha suggests simple exercises for correction. For example, stand on one leg and shut your eyes. Try it. You will be shocked at how much you wobble. “As you get older, you need to focus on balance and reflexes so that you can prevent falls or learn to fall better,” says Radha. Standing on one foot with eyes closed helps with both.

My brother and I used to tell each other that our Dad was a “good faller” in that he seemed to know how to fall so that he didn’t break bones. In his eighties, Appa used to fall, but each time, he got wounds and gashes but thankfully no broken bones. Learning to fall is a lot about reflexes. Thankfully, there are exercises each of us can do to fall better. For women, solving for knee pain is a big issue. Radha suggests Kegel exercises as a way to identify and improve core muscles. First you do this while sitting, then while exercising so that you use core muscles to life and flex.

Most of us focus so much on activity that we don’t pay attention to how we stand, sit or move. Ergonomics and posture are a big part of how we hold our body and move and the reason for much of the pains that each of us develops. In Bangalore, there are several practitioners of somatic therapies. Dr Deepak Sharan, an orthopaedic surgeon who founded Recoup Health is someone who combines medical training with somatic practices—he has certifications in the Feldenkrais method, Alexander technique, the DART procedures, the Franklin method and ergonomics. According to him, there are several reasons why we feel discomfort and pain.

“We expend too much energy and effort while doing simple movements (like getting out of a chair). We don’t have good self-awareness while moving. We don’t know how our body is organised and positioned—certain areas are tight or bent and so on.” The other reason has to do with compensations our body makes due to past injuries. Somatic practices help you realign and readjust the body to heal pain and prevent injuries. All these begin with body-awareness or proprioception.

So here are some specific movement practices that I am doing in 2025. Multiplanar movement is a fancy word for movement that involves moving forward, sideways and backwards. I try to walk sidewards within my house and climb backwards up and down the stairs. Multilateral movement involves using limbs that move in different directions. This sounds complex but the movement of our hands when we walk is a multilateral movement. Reduce the tension in your neck and shoulders consciously. Sigh deeply. Be aware of jaw tightness. Take pleasure in movement by doing things slowly like in tai chi. Stay still like in yoga. Breathe deeply when possible. Loosen and lengthen your spine by imagining your neck floating upwards. Becoming aware of and improving how we move through our day may be the best New Year gift we can give ourselves.

(Shoba Narayan is Bengaluru-based award-winning author. She is also a freelance contributor who writes about art, food, fashion and travel for a number of publications.)