Latest / No Mess, No Magic / Why Movement Matters for Writers with Doctor Chelsea
Transcript
- Monica Hay: Hello and welcome to the Nomass No Magic Podcast with Monica Hay, a podcast for writers. Though apparently I have family members and people from my high school who listen to this podcast. So hi, if you're listening. I am joined here by Chelsea, a dear friend of mine. Chelsea, welcome. I'm so excited to have you. Yes. Chelsea: Hi. Thank you. Monica Hay: Well, let me do your intro. Chelsea is, well, let me start from the beginning, writer. Audiobook narrator and doctor of physical therapy, Chelsea fuses adventurous storytelling and fitness expertise in Chelsea Fit and Flex, an online platform for writer wellness. After many conversations with fellow writers about their writing related injuries, she founded a space for their physical and mental needs because she believes creativity thrives and we care for ourselves intentionally. I love that. Chelsea: Yes, it I think it'll speak to a lot of people. It definitely spoke to me. Monica Hay: I love it. So we were I was trying to come up with what this podcast will be about and I couldn't come up with an exact topic. But if you're listening, what I'm thinking is basically why movement matters. And this is a near and dear topic to me because I don't talk about this a lot on my socials, but I'm actually kind of a gym rat. I go to Plotties, I go to the gym, I fitness means a lot to me. My grandmother had Chelsea: And she's getting so strong. Monica Hay: thanks. My grandmother had osteoporosis, so I'm trying to basically just live a strong life. I don't care about being thin. I don't give a fuck about that. I wanna be strong. I wanna be able to punch somebody's face. Okay. Chelsea: Ha ha ha. Every girl's goal. Monica Hay: Every girl's goal. I actually really I wish I wonder if they have it in Amsterdam. There's have you seen like the YouTube or Instagram videos of people like working out with like knives and shit and like doing the like Chelsea: Yeah. Monica Hay: I I want to I feel like I would suck at that though, I'm not gonna lie. Chelsea: Okay, I have that in the works for my studio. So yeah. Monica Hay: my God. Chelsea: Get yourself ready. Monica Hay: my God. my God. Okay. This is very exciting. Okay. So for those of you who are listening, you might be thinking, like, okay, we're gonna talk about exercise. I promise this is going to be a cool conversation. Neither Chelsea and I think hustle what is the hustle culture exercise? What is it? What would you call it in your kind of Chelsea: obsessive like body maxing. Monica Hay: Yes. We're not doing that here. Chelsea: No. Monica Hay: No. We're just looking for ways to make movement more a part of our daily routine because from what I've gathered from knowing you for a long time, movement really helps our creativity. Right? Like it's it's actually a really helpful piece of the puzzle. Chelsea: Yeah. And I hope Monica Hay: Yes. Chelsea: maybe the one thing people get out of this at the end is that simple movement can create healthy, sustainable patterns for our bodies and our minds. Monica Hay: Love it. Okay. I'm gonna start throwing some questions at you. We I have a lot of questions. It's funny, this Chelsea: Go for it. Hit me. Monica Hay: is like I'm always messaging you. I'll be like, I ha have an injury, what do I do? Or like this thing happened. I like I feel like I do that like at least once a month at this point. Chelsea: Yeah, yeah. Monica Hay: It's very convenient to have a doctor physical therapy friend on my texts. Chelsea: We've we've solved some things for you. Monica Hay: We have s yes. She it solved my knee pain. Fun fact. okay. So you have worked with a lot of writers. What is something that you've noticed about writers' relationships with their bodies? Chelsea: Something that fascinates me about writers is their our ability to disconnect from our bodies. And like I do it all the time. I'm writing and I'm in the story and I'm in this other world. And you know, at some point you surface for air and you're like, my gosh, how long have I been here? Exactly. A little shrimp. Monica Hay: And you're like sitting like this, you're like your posture. Chelsea: Posture. And it's it's a really impressive ability for artists, creatives, writers to just completely disconnect from the physical world and Monica Hay: Yeah. Chelsea: end up in the zone. And I feel like so the human body for eons has been has has evolved for movement. And it's only in the past, you know. Couple decades, even the last maybe century, that we've started Monica Hay: Yeah. Chelsea: to sit more and really have seated bouts of creativity. And I don't know, maybe we're at a higher level of evolution writers because we're able to do this, but we still have physical bodies. Monica Hay: Yes. Yes. It's funny, I also think and I d I didn't know I was an ADHD until I was in my late twenties, but I s I actually struggle well, if you lived with me, you'd know this. I'm always walking into things. I have a bit of a hard time with the space, like my own personal space and like hitting people or hitting, you know, the desk when I walk by it. Chelsea: I've gone on hikes with you. I Monica Hay: Thanks. Have you? Have you got a hikes? Chelsea: May maybe more like nature walks. Monica Hay: Nature walks. Chelsea: Yeah. Monica Hay: And so I it's people are like, describe how that feels in your body. And I'm like, like I've had to learn how to describe what my body feels like. I don't feel like we're really taught that when we're kids. which is really interesting. Chelsea: Yeah. That's really interesting. Monica Hay: Yeah. So we often think that writing comes from our brains. What role does the body actually play in our creative process? Chelsea: Yeah, so this can get a bit complex. Monica Hay: Okay. Chelsea: so the the obvious thing is yeah, we use our bodies to type and to put words on the page, or if you're dictating, then you're speaking words onto the page. That's of course a physical movement. But the less than obvious things we're gonna get a maybe a little scientific. I'll I'll break it down here. Monica Hay: Love it. Give me the science. Chelsea: So when we're sitting and typing, that just seated position, that seated posture actually compresses our diaphragm. That's the muscle that really helps us to breathe. It's our main breathing muscle. And so we're not breathing as well. We use our chest and neck muscles to start breathing instead, which creates a lot of tension in the neck and shoulders, which pulls tension into the head. That can create. Headaches, tension headaches, and decreased focus. The chest breathing also like reinforces that bad posture, which can be a problem for spiking cortisol and decreasing the effectiveness of our vagus nerve. The vagus nerve helps to regulate our fight or flight response and put us into the rest and digest System, parasympathetic system. So that's the first half. That's just breathing. Monica Hay: Okay. Chelsea: Scary, right? This is even worse. Blood flow when we're in one posture for a long time gets restricted. It gets pinched at our hips and pinched at our knees if we're sitting. Or if we're standing, it kind of pools into the lower part of the body. So overall, our blood flow is restricted, which means Monica Hay: Mm-hmm. Chelsea: oxygen isn't getting to the brain as well. So less oxygenation to the brain, and then not our blood flow isn't able to clear out the waste materials from our brain, which increases the acidity of the brain, which can give you headaches and inflammation throughout the body and it's impairing the immune system. And you can kind of think of this is where my nerd is gonna show. So if you guys are at all interested in sci-fi movies with spaceships, you have of course come across the I don't know, the trope of okay, our ship has been hit and we're on life support only. Like all higher level systems are down. That's what it's like when blood flow isn't getting around the body. Monica Hay: Mm. Chelsea: The brain is on life support only. Not only, but you know, it's it's dimming the switches until we're on like that life support mode. And the higher level functionings, your focus, your creativity, your attention span, that's that's all dimming. So The breathing and blood flow play a huge role in maintaining our brain's functions. Easy fix for that is a little bit of movement because, like taking breaks, maybe even every hour, Monica Hay: Hmm. Chelsea: every half hour, whatever whatever you've got in you activates the muscle pump system. Of our our blood flow. So our big muscles help to pump blood back into our body and throughout our body. Better oxygen and nutrient flow. movement regulates blood sugars and blood fats. So it's healthier for the brain in allowing those two be better regulated. And then coming back to that vagus nerve, it helps us to regulate our parasympathetic system and our rest and digest better. Monica Hay: Yes. Chelsea: So there's a lot going on in the body. Yeah, while we're trying to be creative. Monica Hay: There's a lot. Holy shit. I have I've been sitting for like an hour and a half and I feel like I should get up and move. Chelsea: You absolutely should. Should we do some squats while we do the podcast? Monica Hay: Would you judge me if I got up and did some squats? Chelsea: Girl, no, I'll do them with you. Monica Hay: Okay, okay. We're doing it. Okay. Chelsea: I didn't think anyone would see that I'm wearing shorts on the bottom here, but here's my whole outfit, guys. Monica Hay: Love it. Chelsea: And squats are actually pretty simple and highly effective. It's activating our glutes and our quads, which are some of the biggest, well, they are the biggest muscles in our bodies. And so they are helping to really regulate your blood sugars. When we sit for a long time, blood blood sugars are just accumulating and they're not getting used. Our muscles will pull that out of the bloodstream so that we're not just sitting in this higher state of blood sugars. Monica Hay: I did so many squats earlier in Pilates. That was an extra there's an extra squat. Extra few squats. There you go, body. That's that's Chelsea: Good on you. Monica Hay: so crazy. See, Chelsea: Yeah. Monica Hay: I need someone to tell me the why of why this is important. I can't just have someone be like, move. I mean like give me the why. What is the reason? Chelsea: Yeah. Well, there's Monica Hay: Okay. Chelsea: a lot of scary shit going on if you don't move. Monica Hay: I can actually feel Is it weird that I can feel blood circulating more? Chelsea: No, that's exactly what I'm talking about. That was what 30 seconds of squats? And your Monica Hay: Thirty seconds. Yeah. Chelsea: body was like, Yes, I needed that. Thank you. Monica Hay: So weird. I can actually feel it like this is this is so strange to me. Okay. So what is actually happening in the brain when we move? Like what what is making it helpful for a creative process? We get blood Chelsea: Mm. Yeah. Monica Hay: flow, we get more oxygen. Those are the main things. Chelsea: Yep. So let's so so when we're not moving, our our brains get you probably were just feeling this like tired, foggy, not as much focus and concentration. Then when we do move, you know, we've got the oxygen flow that we were just talking about, better movement of sorry, better posture and better blood flow. our brains are also wired. To reward us when we do something that is good for us. Monica Hay: Mm. Chelsea: So movement is healthy for the body as a whole, even if it's just this quick little thing like you just showed us. So we actually get a hit of dopamine when we exercise. And it's our brain rewarding us: like, good job, you did something good for yourself and for your brain. Like, cool, thanks, brain. And dopamine improves mood and it also improves attention and clarity of focus. Monica Hay: Mm-hmm. Chelsea: It also improves memory. And that is, yeah, that's a survival instinct. Is this thing I just did was good for me. I'm going to remember it. So dopamine Monica Hay: Yeah. Chelsea: is something we get a hit of. And there's also something called BDNF. Are you familiar with this, Mon? Yeah, brain-derived neurotrophic factor. It's A protein that is created in our in our brain and it's used to promote neuroplasticity, which is basically the growth and remodeling of our brain and our neurons. so BDNF helps to grow neurons and strengthen synapses, which are the the way neurons communicate. Monica Hay: Yep. Chelsea: So BDNF Also has a role in memory learning and it's linked with low levels of it, sorry, are linked with depression and anxiety and Alzheimer's. So Monica Hay: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Chelsea: in the long run, movement actually helps a lot of functions in the brain and shores it up against Alzheimer's, which is pretty Monica Hay: Okay. Yeah. Chelsea: profound. Monica Hay: Well, and we want B D and F because it promotes those neurons, which I'm always telling people when they're trying to write that y they need writing neurons in their in their spots where they're trying to write. And Chelsea: Yes, yes. Monica Hay: you you know, if you want to basically it's it's kind of just like let's press the button to grow neurons faster, it sounds like B D and F basically. Chelsea: So yeah, you can think of it as BDNF is your steroid for helping your brain write better. And it's naturally created. Monica Hay: Love it. Love it. Okay. So have you noticed in your own life any problem solvings in your creativity after you move? Or even while you move? Chelsea: It for me it's while I move. Monica Hay: While you move. Chelsea: so if I if I've got something I need to brainstorm, if I've got this like sticky part in my book that I can't quite figure out, I'm gonna go for a long walk. And Monica Hay: Okay. Chelsea: the first usually 10 to 15 minutes of the walk, my brain is just dumping everything. I'm not trying to think about anything. I'm just moving my body, letting my brain dump. And then eventually it will just pick up on this thread and boom, my problem just solves itself while Monica Hay: Mm. Chelsea: I'm moving, while I'm walking. So for me, it's it's during movement that my creativity just like comes together. And then after movement, I have better focus and energy and productivity, which is why if I've got a long day of work. For example, last weekend I was working on business stuff for Chelsea Fit and Flex. And I also wanted to get some writing done. And I took a long walk in the middle of all of that. And I this is not healthy. I don't recommend it. But I did like 14 hours of work that day because I needed to and had such amazing focus and productivity. I would not recommend doing that often. But if you're a writer on Monica Hay: Yeah. Chelsea: deadline and you need to hack your productivity in the short term. Go for it. Probably not healthy to be working that much in the long term. Monica Hay: Probably not. But you wrote but you walked for a bit in between that in that day. Okay. Chelsea: Exactly. I was, yeah. And I'm sure you guys can feel like, you know, you sit down at your desk, you start writing, you're doing great, and then your energy just starts to drop off, no matter how much tea or coffee you're drinking. It's Monica Hay: Yeah. Chelsea: yeah, it's the body saying, like, I've I've gotta do something else for a little bit. And then Monica Hay: Yeah. Chelsea: your focus and your energy pops right back up. Monica Hay: Yeah. That's so interesting. Well, as somebody who goes to Pilates and then feels like she's gotten hit by a bus. Chelsea: I Monica Hay: How long am I supposed to feel like that sore? Chelsea: Maybe. Monica Hay: It has been better lately. I I was like literally texting Chelsea a few days ago and I like, My ass is gonna fall off my body. I was so sore from the gym. Like just standing up, I was like, my god. I was Chelsea: You went hard, Mon. Great job. Monica Hay: Well I'm trying to you know, have some muscles. But then when you get sick Chelsea: Yeah. You've got muscles, girl. Monica Hay: y you know, you get sick and then you're just like, Shit, I'm losing my my stamina. Wait, okay, how long does it technically take for your growth for your gains to like go away if you can't work out? Like if if I'm sick for a week? Chelsea: So this is this is kind of scary. so I will never forget the day they told us this in PT school, and this is this is what they told us. So within days of bed rest, we start to lose strength. Like days we're losing strength. It takes weeks to start building that back up again. So Monica Hay: That's really rude. Chelsea: and I mean you were you were sick, you weren't on bed rest, so slightly different, but we lose muscle very quickly, we lose strength very quickly, I should say, because we're we're mammals, we're built for efficiency. And if our body doesn't need it, it's going to get rid of it. Monica Hay: Okay. But if you I've I've been told by so so John, who's gonna be editing this, hi. his ex wife, L O L, sorry I'm outing you, was a PT, but not not a doctor of PT, but she worked I think sh I think she was actually not not a physical therapist, she was like a personal trainer, like at the gym with people. He had to explain to me that if you have in the past been good with Lifting weights or building muscle. Even if you lose those muscles, it'll be easier to bring them back because there's there's muscle memory of those muscles. Is that correct? Okay. Chelsea: Yes, it's yeah, a lot easier to build back than it is to build up from scratch. Monica Hay: Okay, okay, cool. okay. I don't know if you have the like scientific explanation for this because I don't and I'm very curious about it. And if you don't have it, you don't th that's okay. Why do people get their best ideas when they're moving or like showering or doing dishes when they're moving in general? Chelsea: I know that happens for a lot of people. And for me, for me, it's walking. Monica Hay: Yes. Yeah. Chelsea: I know some people where it's like I get my best ideas in the shower. I know other people where it's like I get my best ideas while I'm driving. and I I honestly can't say that I know the full scientific reason, but what I do know is Like, say you've been beating your head against the wall, trying to figure something out, and you're like, okay, I just need to, I just need to go for a drive. So now your brain is focusing on something else too, and we're offloading a little bit of brain power onto something else, which means the brain is kind of freeing itself up. Monica Hay: Mm. Chelsea: And our subconscious is then able to kind of recharge. and get us Monica Hay: Mm. Chelsea: back into back into the flow. so Monica Hay: Interesting. Chelsea: boredom is scientifically proven to give you better creativity. And what better way to be bored than to do a repetitive task or a yeah washing the dishes? I mean come Monica Hay: Yep. Yep. Chelsea: on it doesn't get more boring than that. But the brain really The creative brain really thrives on boredom, which is probably why I came up with some of my best story ideas during my Pathophys class. So. Monica Hay: I love it. Yeah, and I think a Chelsea: Yeah. Monica Hay: lot of people don't get bored anymore. Most people don't. Yeah. I mean I struggle to get bored. I have to Chelsea: Yeah. Yep. Our phones take up a lot of our boredom time. Monica Hay: like force it. I have to I mean, I have you know, the apps on my phone to block different other apps so that I can't scroll. And that helps a lot. Chelsea: Yeah. Monica Hay: but it's it's tricky to get bored in this day and age, you know. You like it? Chelsea: Yeah, I love being bored. I I if you put me out in the middle of the woods with no phone, I would be so happy. Boredom's good for us. Monica Hay: You are not a s you are not a seven Enneagram. That is like their worst nightmare. Chelsea: No, I'm an eight. Monica Hay: That is so funny. See how would I feel if I was put out in the woods with no phone? I might have a few days of withdrawal. And then I'd be like, I'm not going back. Fuck all y'all. Yeah, that's probably how I'd feel. Chelsea: I want all of you who are listening to message Monica and tell her what you would do if you were sitting in the middle of the woods with no phone. I think we're gonna get some crazy shit from that. Monica Hay: Yeah, actually tell us in the Spotify or YouTube comments. Tell us what you would do if you were sitting in the woods with no phone. Tell Chelsea: Mm-hmm. Monica Hay: us. I would I love getting your guys' comments. Okay. Okay, obviously, you know that I work with a lot of writers who have resistance issues. A lot of people think they need to sit there until inspiration arrives, but could movement actually be one of the most productive things that you can do? For you, yes. Chelsea: Yeah, it's my go to. Monica Hay: Do you would you recommend when somebody hits resistance to get up and like go for a walk or just start moving or go to the gym even? Chelsea: Yeah, I I would. I I would say pick something small and easy and that your brain doesn't really have to think about, which is why I think walks are great. You just pick a walking route and you go. And unplug and just just go. And I Monica Hay: Meaning don't listen to a podcast or music while you're walking. Chelsea: So after you listen to a podcast about movement and creativity, then no, in all seriousness, yes, go for a short walk and just take some deep breaths. There's also a lot of science saying that deep breathing can help to unlock our brains too. Monica Hay: Okay. Okay. So it's interesting w as somebody who who does tend to use the gym to avoid my work, what is the difference between avoiding your writing and taking care of the body that does the writing, in your opinion? Chelsea: Alright, at the risk of you not liking me for saying this, it's the difference is being honest with yourself. Are Monica Hay: Mm. Chelsea: you going to do something, whether it's the gym or grocery shopping or whatever, because you're avoiding writing, or are you doing it because you want it to fuel your writing? Monica Hay: Mm Chelsea: One thing I would recommend for someone who might be struggling with that distinction is set yourself a timer, set a schedule, say like, all right, I'm going to take 20 minutes and do a little at-home workout. And once that timer is done, then I am done and I have to go try to write again. Monica Hay: Yeah. You schedule your days, don't you? I saw your schedule on Instagram. Chelsea: when I have a really busy day, I I need to take five minutes and plan it out so that I can stay on schedule. Monica Hay: Fair, fair. I mean I have tried so many ways to like time block or like blah blah blah and it has never worked for me. I mean I guess I kind of do that now where like my time block when I can wake up early enough, LOL. which I have been doing for the last few days. Chelsea was shooketh when I texted her last night that I was going to bed at eleven PM, which by the way is like going to bed at like eight. PM for me. I'm I haven't gone to bed at eight PM like my whole fucking life. But I think for for somebody like me who struggles with a schedule I was looking at your Instagram post of like your schedule for those days. You actually stay on that schedule the whole day. Chelsea: Give or take like ten minutes. Monica Hay: What happened to your video? Chelsea: I have no idea. Monica Hay: That is so funny. Sorry if you guys watching. d give or take Chelsea: But I'm also Monica Hay: ten minutes. So you you're fucking you will have a thing on your appointment for ten o'clock. Obviously if you're with a client, that's one thing 'cause like you're beholden to your clients. But Chelsea: Yeah. Monica Hay: like what if it's a day off and you're writing and you're like doing other stuff? You stay to a schedule? Chelsea: I I do. I'm so competitive. I'm competitive with myself. So if if I'm like, okay, I need to get this done in 30 minutes, you better fucking believe I'm getting it done in 25. I just have to. Monica Hay: Yeah. Chelsea: Which is why it might be easy for me to say, like, yeah, set set a schedule, set a timer. But the human brain is also wired to work on maybe not a schedule, but to work in patterns. So Monica Hay: Mm-hmm. Chelsea: if you break your day down into half hour segments or hour segments, your brain is going to be ready for like, okay, I'm going to do hard work for 30 minutes and then I know I get a break. We're wired for it. Monica Hay: And yet the eight hour work day does not agree. Chelsea: my gosh. Monica Hay: Don't even get me started. Chelsea: The worse. Monica Hay: I know. I it's yeah, it's fascinating how like not connected to our bodies we are because of this. Ugh. Did you know my grand my great grandmother? Wait, great great grandmother? My grandmother's grandma. Is that great great? Chelsea: Your grandmother's grandma would be your great great grandma. Whoa. Okay. Monica Hay: Yeah. She was a woman suffragette. She was a badass. You there's actually a Wikipedia page on her, Alice Park. And she tried to fight for a six hour work week at the time when she was helping make laws and she did not get that, obviously. If only Chelsea: I love that. So when I started building Chelsea Fit and Flex, I moved down to a six hour day at work. Yeah. And Monica Hay: how is that? Chelsea: it's so much more sustainable. I still don't get a lunch break, but you know, at least you can go six hours without food easier than ten. Monica Hay: sorry, what? You were ax you were expecting what? Ten hours without food. Chelsea: Well, y you know, you kinda eat when you can in healthcare. I'm sure other jobs are like that too, but Monica Hay: It's funny, I was chatting with a nurse who moved from the US to the Netherlands and she Chelsea: Mm. Monica Hay: became a nurse here. She had like learn Dutch and everything. And she I asked her, I was like, what is the difference between being a nurse in America and being a nurse here? And she's like, It's the difference is insane. Like she's she's like, it's so much better in the Netherlands. Like, first of all, her shifts like st start and stop at a certain time, and they are guaranteed a forty five minute lunch break. Mm-hmm. Chelsea: my gosh. Monica Hay: At least maybe it's different depending on your hospital. Where she is, she always like can have the lunch break. it's just and like, you know, and she says sometimes she even gets more bored. She she's more she's a lot more bored because So Chelsea: Everyone I know who works in healthcare in the US, which is where I am, is miserable. So I don't know, long story short for anyone listening, be nice to your healthcare providers. We are suffering too. Monica Hay: Seriously. Be nice to your healthcare providers, truly. Also be nice to your veterinary providers. They go through it too. They have some of the highest suicide Chelsea: gosh, yeah. Just be nice. Monica Hay: rates. Like really high suicide rates. Yeah. Chelsea: I didn't know that. Monica Hay: And my my niece, not my niece, my cousin, she's on she's a vet and she's talked about it. Chelsea: Mm, that's awful. Monica Hay: So just be fucking nice, people. Be nice to each other. Don't comment stupid fucking shit. Actually, no. If you want to comment something stupid and you're a dick, like do it on my s my account, because then I'll get engagement and I'll like get pushed more. So like that's okay. Chelsea: Yeah. Monica Hay: but yeah, otherwise, you know, just don't be a dick. I see the most interesting comments. Huh? Chelsea: We're all gonna go troll Monica. We're all gonna go troll Monica. Monica Hay: I mean it's as much as I like the engagement, please don't do that 'cause I'll be sad. Chelsea: Too pretty for podcasts. Monica Hay: yeah, it's it's so how d do you when you're at work, are you able to move relatively well because you have like different equipment there or are you like just so busy that you can't? Chelsea: You mean do I move throughout my workday? Monica Hay: Yeah, like I I know when I was getting physical therapy, our people would just like randomly just like use the equipment. If they didn't have a client or something, they'd just like start doing some push ups and shit. You know? Chelsea: Yeah. If on the rare occasion that I have spare time, yeah, I go do some exercises. It's physical Monica Hay: Cute. Chelsea: therapy for all its drawbacks is actually really nice for like our topic today, because I don't sit for eight hours a day. I'm Monica Hay: Mm. Chelsea: constantly, you know, up and down and moving and lifting and repositioning. And yeah, there's some wear and tear on the body, but I I don't get home and have that like when I was a student after, you know, a whole day of lectures and homework, you would just feel dead. And I Monica Hay: Yeah. Chelsea: feel dead in different ways, like dead in my soul, but no, but it's not the same when you get to move around throughout the day. Monica Hay: Do you feel dead in your soul? Is that I guess that's very Chelsea: It depends on the day. Monica Hay: wait, you're a Scorpio, aren't you? Chelsea: I'm such a Scorpio. Monica Hay: yeah, that's why we're friends. Chelsea: Yeah. Monica Hay: for those who don't know, I'm a cancer. My husband's a Scorpio, it's a whole thing. And a lot of my dear friends are Scorpios. Interesting. Okay, so I I have to bring this up and I cause I'm really curious what your take is on this. I a lot of people in the writing world have a very like negative relationship with their bodies, which like obviously we you know, we don't like diet cultural that b all that BS. It's fucking stupid, right? Some listeners might have chronic illness, they might have a disability or a complicated relationship with exercise. What would you say to somebody who hears movements and thinks that's not for me? Chelsea: Yeah, I I totally hear you on that. Is e I mean, even I have a complicated relationship with working out and my body. So Monica Hay: Yeah. Chelsea: I get it. And one thing I can't stress enough is all movement is good movement. You find what you enjoy and you do it. No shame. Like if if you're having a Shit day and all you can muster out of yourself is like a five-minute stretch session. Amazing! You win. If Monica Hay: Yeah. Yeah. Chelsea: you're having a day where you can go on a three-mile run and then do Pilates in the afternoon, like hell yeah, good for you too. But that's that's a lot. It doesn't have to be huge things. it can it can just be these small. simple movements consistently throughout the day, whatever your body's feeling. And of course it is between you and your healthcare provider to determine what is safe for you. I won't speak to that on here, but but Monica Hay: Yeah. Chelsea: yeah, all movement is good movement. And once you start, your body generally will crave more. Monica Hay: Yeah, I've noticed that for myself. Even on days where Chelsea: Mm-hmm. Monica Hay: I'm like, It's a rest day, my b my body's like, Are you sure that about that? Like And I'm like, Chelsea: Really? Monica Hay: Wit bitch, you wanna go to the g you want to do this? It's funny 'cause you're like, cho choose what you enjoy. Apparently I like getting my ass beaten. That's apparently what I like when I'm at the I'm at Pilates. They beat my ass. Chelsea: Yes, you do. You must have good instructors. Monica Hay: So, okay, I one of my clients, she goes to Pilates all the time. And she's like, I'm like, how I I can't go usually two days in a row because I'm like dead sore the next day. Chelsea: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Monica Hay: Like I'm not gonna go back when my ass is gonna fall off my fucking body. Like I I need a minute. She goes like every day. I'm like, what are you she's like, you probably just have harder Pilates. I'm like, what do you mean you have heart pilates? Like, I I don't know. They just today it was I was like dripping sweat onto this machine. And nobody Chelsea: Heck yeah. Monica Hay: else seems to drip sweat in this country, so w I feel very alone in this. Chelsea: I do think American culture has a certain perspective on working out that is like it has to be like balls the wall, like hard working out, intense working out. And Monica Hay: Yeah. Chelsea: in some ways, yeah, that's good for you. but it also, I think, for for the people who like doing that, amazing. For the people who are intimidated by that, it's so unhealthy to have like all these influencers on social media being like you you have to do like handstand push-ups like or you're not gonna get swole like dude fuck you go sit in a corner that's not how this works you and you in your lesser degree don't talk about that let me set you Monica Hay: Yeah. Chelsea: straight with my doctorate that's not how it works Monica Hay: Yeah. Yeah, I think Chelsea: It's dangerous. Monica Hay: it is. I s I did see a a Instagram reel about like working out like going to a class is supposed to be hard and you know, and I'm like yes and no. 'Cause okay, we're I I use class pass here in Amsterdam and if you cancel within twelve hours you're you're still charged for like a fee. Which I love actually 'cause it keeps me going, even if I don't feel like going. But, you know, if say that like then there have been days when I've woken up and I've been like, I don't feel great, but I don't want to cancel my class because I don't want to be charged. So I'm gonna go at a level that I don't really feel like I'm gonna do very well. Maybe I don't want that class to kick me so hard that I feel dead afterward. Maybe I wanna tell the instructor like I'm gonna go a little bit easy today, but I still want it to show up. Chelsea: Yep. Monica Hay: Yeah. So Chelsea: And that's a really important distinction to be making is training at the level you feel that day, especially for women, when we go through Monica Hay: Hm. Chelsea: so many fluctuations in our hormones and energy levels that we cannot train at the same intensity every day. I saw this crazy fact recently that for men, shoot, I don't want to say this wrong now. But it was something like men have the same hormonal fluctuations that women get in a whole month. They only have to have to deal with it for a day or something like that. I I don't remember what it was. Monica Hay: interesting. Chelsea: But long story short is we we have these monthly fluctuations and not to just like single out the women in the crowd, but Yeah, you you have to train for how you feel that day because every day is different for us. Monica Hay: It's so rude. Chelsea: Yeah. It it makes it makes strength training, cardio training, fitness in general a bit more difficult, especially since a lot of the Monica Hay: Okay, so what happens if you're like playing in the Olympics and you're dealing with your period? Chelsea: Well that that was actually played into the Olympic figure skating this year, not to call her out, but Amber Glen had she was one of the US figure skaters who Monica Hay: Mm-hmm. Chelsea: she kinda had a disappointing performance and she said in an interview afterwards, like, I I I'm on my period. I really just I wasn't feeling it. And yeah, that's a hard reality of women in Monica Hay: Yeah. Yep. Chelsea: Sports and fitness. Monica Hay: Ugh. Ugh. Chelsea: We got so off track. Why are we talking about this? Monica Hay: I know, sorry. I know. Th okay, but it's not off track, it's a conversation. Okay, so let me ask if somebody had five minutes, what would you tell them to try? Chelsea: There are so many different ways this could go, but if I had to design a like five-minute like reset, your between writing sprints, you got five minutes before your next one, I would say you do 30 seconds of each of the following exercises: calf raises, squats. Monica Hay: Okay. Chelsea: Push-ups, shoulder blade squeezes, and Monica Hay: Okay. Chelsea: chin tucks. Yep. Yep, I'll I'll Monica Hay: like this thing. Yeah. It feels very weird to do it, but yeah. Chelsea: review those for you guys. So those five exercises, and then finish off with a deep breathing or some breath work. The reason I'm saying these specific exercises, number one, calf raises. Help to pump blood back from the lowest parts of your body up into the circulatory system where it can get filtered and re-oxygenated. Squats use the biggest, strongest muscles in your body. Help, as we said earlier, to pull blood sugars out of your bloodstream and and regulate your body. Push-ups, we get some upper body movement. along with the scapular retractions or the shoulder blade squeezes that help to reset your posture. So the shoulder blade squeezes, Monica Hay: Mm-hmm. Chelsea: you're just pinching your shoulder blades down and back repetitively. The chin tucks are I'm gonna describe this for all of you who are listening. You're sitting up nice and tall. Monica's doing a great job with these. Just tucking your chin straight back, like your chin is a drawer that's getting pushed back into place. You're trying to make a double chin. Monica Hay: You're basically just giving yourself a double spin. Yeah. Chelsea: And that is a another important postural reset exercise. Monica Hay: Okay, but why is this helpful? Like this is a such a strange exercise. It feels feels very unnatural. Why is it helpful? Chelsea: So the chin tuck pulls your neck into a taller posture. It also activates, more importantly, a lot of your deep cervical spine stabilizers. When we're sitting and looking down at something or hunched in front of a computer, those Monica Hay: Mm Chelsea: stabilizer muscles get overstretched and weak. By doing the chin tuck, we're waking them up, we're activating them, we're helping them to do their job better and work in tandem with the rest of our postural muscles to keep us in a good position. And I don't wanna I'm gonna sound like I'm harping on posture, but I mean, you could have the most perfect posture in the world and sitting and writing in that perfect posture for a long time is still gonna cause you issues. Monica Hay: Mm. Chelsea: So yeah, we wanna have these postural resets. We want to balance out our musculature, but overall we just need to get up and away from our desks or our computers for a little bit too. Monica Hay: Yeah. So interesting. Interesting, because I'm thinking about Can you can you do that that movement sitting down as well or lay or sorry, laying down, the the chin tuck? Cool. That sounds Chelsea: Absolutely. Yep. Monica Hay: cozy for some reason. Don't Chelsea: Mm-hmm. Monica Hay: ask me why. okay. What are some of the common injuries that you see in writers? Chelsea: A lot of them are postural related. and I I have seen multiple writers in the clinic and treated these writers as patients. I've also spoken to a lot of writers at retreats and on Instagram, people messaging me. The typical writing or typing related injuries are carpal tunnel syndrome. So when your median nerve that sits on the bottom of your wrist gets trapped between your wrist bones. Monica Hay: Mm. Chelsea: tennis elbow, when the muscles that lift your fingers and your wrist get irritated up at your elbow Monica Hay: Mm-hmm. Chelsea: joint. So it's a type of tendinitis. Yeah, that that tends to happen with like bad writing positions. Monica Hay: Mm-hmm. Chelsea: So I I think you have a pretty good desk setup from what I've seen. Yeah. So tennis elbow is is an Monica Hay: Yeah, yeah, I try to. Chelsea: overuse in a bad position type of injury. and then I also see like neck and just the spine in general, spine-related issues, which are not good. You wanna Monica Hay: Yeah. Chelsea: be nice to your spine. You wanna be as nice to your spine as possible and Monica Hay: Yeah. Chelsea: Writing is really awful to the spine, unfortunately. Monica Hay: Okay. that's nice. Chelsea: Yeah. Which is you know, there are ways to prevent it, there are ways around it and movements to do to reverse it at some stages. Monica Hay: Movement is one of them. Yeah. Yeah. Chelsea: But once it gets too far it is irreversible and scary. Monica Hay: I'm sorry, what? Chelsea: So degeneration of the spine can impinge the nerve roots that go out into your body. Monica Hay: Mm. Chelsea: which can like if you've heard of sciatica. Monica Hay: Yeah. Chelsea: Sciatica is kind of a garbage term, if we're talking in technical terms, like a pinched nerve or a like ruptured disc, herniated disc. Monica Hay: Yeah. Chelsea: All of these are happening at the spine and causing pain, numbness, and tingling to go down the leg. Monica Hay: Okay. Chelsea: those can be from injuries like, you know, a car accident or I lifted Monica Hay: Yeah. Chelsea: something way too heavy with really bad posture or or sorry, not posture positioning. or it can just be degeneration over the Monica Hay: Mm. Chelsea: years and that's entirely irreversible. Monica Hay: Okay. Chelsea: Yeah, it's scary. And I see this stuff every day. Yep. I would say fifty Monica Hay: Yeah, you see it every day. That's interesting. I just don't see it as often. Chelsea: to seventy five percent depending on the day of my schedule. Fifty to seventy five percent is spine related. Monica Hay: Okay. Chelsea: Yeah. Monica Hay: What what movements prevent it those kinds of issues? Chelsea: Core and postural stabilization as well Monica Hay: Good. I do lots of core. Chelsea: as well as spinal mobility. So exercises where you're kind of stretching your spine gently. Monica Hay: Okay. Yeah. Chelsea: You never want to overstretch the spine. You don't want to force your spine into cracking. Let the professionals do that. another important thing to know is that sitting. actually puts more pound for pound pressure through your spine, more load through your spine than standing or walking. So Monica Hay: Mm. Chelsea: sitting is a major way that our spine gets overloaded. Monica Hay: But but f sitting feels so good. Chelsea: For short terms. Monica Hay: Like when I've had a long day out in the city and I've walked like ten thousand steps, I just wanna like sit and chill, you know? Chelsea: sure. Absolutely. Because our bodies also crave ch crave changing positions. Monica Hay: Mm. Chelsea: So sitting's not all bad. Monica Hay: Yeah. Chelsea: It's just the amount. Yeah. Monica Hay: Okay. Our bodies change to crave changing positions. Interesting. Okay. Chelsea: Yeah. And while floating your feet. Monica Hay: Fair, fair. Okay. I am curious What do you so if somebody is like, okay, I want to do some movement, but if somebody's also like, I want to like let's say we have a writer who's like, I actually want to do some strength training and I want to start like doing preventative measures so that I have a healthy body for for vi many, many years. What is your favorite type of strength training? Like what what do you think writers particularly need? Chelsea: I think easy resistive exercises, resisted like with a band or with lightweights are a really good place to start. I actually do some videos on my platform, Chelsea Fit and Flex, with lifting books. So just Monica Hay: that's so cool. Chelsea: grab a couple tomes and we'll do a workout with them. But basically anything where you're adding weight or resistance is a great start for strength training. Body weight is a great start for strength training. Over time, you will have to do more, but Monica Hay: Up the weight. Yeah. Chelsea: starting at body weight is absolutely that's what I do every day with my patients. I start them at body weight. Before we Monica Hay: Mm. Chelsea: add anything else, can you do this with your own body weight? And Some of those exercises can be really tough. Monica Hay: Yeah, I feel like people if you haven't if if you haven't been to to physical therapy, it feels like the exercises look super easy. And then you do it and you're like, What the fuck? I'm like this is so not easy at Chelsea: Yeah. Monica Hay: all. Chelsea: Our jobs are literally to find your weaknesses and exploit them. Monica Hay: I love the way you just described this. I love it. I love it. Okay. So Chelsea: Yeah. Yeah, that's what I do. Monica Hay: tell us, please tell us about this platform of yours because it's basically a one-stop shop for everything we just talked about, right? Chelsea: Yeah, yeah. So Chelsea Fit and Flex is an online platform designed for writers and creatives. There are gentle stretch exercise and workout videos for all levels, and they are specifically tailored to writers and creatives and the injuries that we are most prone to. And that is using my experience and my knowledge as a physical therapist to put all of this together into. workouts that are like I said for all levels and targeting very important things for writers and creatives. So I've got the the videos for exercises and workouts. I also have a an online workshop which I did with your program and then I'm starting up a blog which Has a lot of my favorite story snacks, is what I'm calling it. I Monica Hay: I love it. Chelsea: love to cook. I love, well, I love to eat, therefore I love to cook. So Monica Hay: Love it. Chelsea: I'm gonna have a lot of recipes on there too that are mostly healthy, but Monica Hay: Mostly. Chelsea: mostly healthy. Some are a little bit indulgent. Monica Hay: We gotta have some indulgences in this life. Chelsea: We do. We gotta have some some good things going on for us. Monica Hay: I love it. It's been so nice. I popped some of your videos on today. It was so nice. I Chelsea: Mm-hmm. Monica Hay: like, I need to stretch out my shit and it was really, really nice. I did it yesterday too. It was like, you Chelsea: And I Monica Hay: know. Chelsea: I actually do my own videos sometimes because sometimes you get home from work and you're like, I don't want to plan a workout. I Monica Hay: Yes. Chelsea: don't want to come up with something to do, but I also want someone who I trust to to come up with the workouts for me. Monica Hay: Can trust. You can trust. Yeah. Chelsea: So yeah, I I do my own workouts. Monica Hay: Yeah. I did some of the the stretching for what was it, shoulders and neck today. I had Chelsea: Mm. Monica Hay: no idea that this would get so tight and like this whole section. I didn't even know. If you're if you're listening and Chelsea: Yep. And those are muscles that Monica Hay: not watching, this is like right above your shoulder shoulder wait, not shoulder blade. Collarbone. Chelsea: where the neck connects into the collarbone. Yeah. So that is a very common place to get tight when we're sitting and working at a computer and Monica Hay: Yeah. Chelsea: chest breathing. Monica Hay: Yeah, I feel like I just need someone to tie me my chair like this. Chelsea: But then you wouldn't get out of your chair. Monica Hay: That's true. That's true. Well Chelsea: Mm-hmm. And I've been really trying to get into more of like sprints and doing five minute exercise or movement breaks in between sprints. I have a series coming out soon that is just sprint and stretch five minute sessions. And they've been really helpful for me. So yeah. Monica Hay: I love this. Yeah. So from from this conversation, it sounds like movement is, you know, whatever type of movement is going to do a lot of good for all of us. We need that blood Chelsea: Exactly. Monica Hay: flow, we need that oxygen. Yeah. Chelsea: Yeah. And it will prevent a lot of long term issues, including injuries and health conditions. Can even reverse some health conditions. So Monica Hay: Yes. Chelsea: yeah. Monica Hay: I love it. I feel like I wanna ask you more questions that like you know like when you're talking to a doctor and you're like, my god, let me ask you all the questions I can ask you. Chelsea: Yep. And then I get an email like an hour after someone's appointment, like I forgot to ask you this. Like Monica Hay: I can't help it. I also I had a a it's like when I Chelsea: That's totally fine. Monica Hay: talk to my accountant. I'm like, shit, I didn't ask her that question that I could have asked her while was talking to her. Chelsea: Mm-hmm. Monica Hay: Yeah, I'm trying to think if it are there any other questions. Okay, this is a selfish question. I'm a tall person. Chelsea: I'm not Monica Hay: Yeah, we know. So d she's like a head l t shorter than me. I'm five nine Chelsea: Maybe one. Monica Hay: in case people and if that's one seventy-five for Europeans. so for the Dutch people, I'm just fucking average. So whatever, rude. yeah, you should not come here, Chelsea. You will be like the sh a shrimp here compared to like Yeah. I'm just average. I'm literally Chelsea: Yes. Everyone would be stepping on me. Monica Hay: average. It's crazy. It's the world is not necessarily made for tall people. I I don't really know where the question is with this, but like for example, like my desk, luckily it can go up and down and stuff like that, right? Why you but Chelsea: I'm so glad you're bringing this up. Yes. Monica Hay: why you so I fe I just feel like it's so hard to find actual Chelsea: Yes. Monica Hay: accommodations for your body type when you're a tall person, especially in like the US or places where it's not as common tall. Chelsea: Yes. And the same thing is for short people. Monica Hay: Mm-hmm. Chelsea: My people. So most everything in this world is designed for the average human being, which is generally distilled down to the average man. And so you might be in that height range, but you're not in that body type range. Monica Hay: Mm-hmm. Chelsea: So finding a desk setup that works for you is an entirely tailored experience. you know, there are so many rules of like you want your feet flat on the floor, your knees are bent to 90 degrees, your lumbar spine is supported, Monica Hay: Yeah. Chelsea: your, you know, elbows are resting at elbow height on the armrest, and your keyboard is at elbow height. Your computer screen, the top of it is sitting at eye level. That's your ideal positioning. If you're short or extra tall, then I have to put a stool under my feet so that my feet are flat on Monica Hay: Yeah. Chelsea: something. And I need an extra cushion behind my back because my legs are not long enough to get over the edge of my seat. without something pushing my hips forward and keeping my back supported. So I've invested a Monica Hay: Yeah. Chelsea: more, much more than you want to know in creating a comfortable desk setup. But it's just so important if you're going to be spending any amount of time at your desk. Monica Hay: Yeah. I mean, this is one of the reasons I don't really go to coffee shops to write, because it's never gonna Chelsea: Yeah. Monica Hay: be a comfortable spot. And it's funny because Amsterdam is so weird about laptops. A lot of places don't even allow you to have a laptop, which don't even get me started. Chelsea: Really? Monica Hay: I could bit yeah, I hate it. I hate it so much because they're I mean, I understand of course that it's busy and that they need to get people moving out the door because there's a lot of people. But like cafe culture is very different here because like you literally can't bring your laptop out. They're like, no laptops. Chelsea: Interesting. I generally don't recommend it anyway. Monica Hay: so I don't go to cafes cafes to write anymore and you know what? Whatever, I'll just be a hermit. I'll just be a hermit. But yeah, it's funny, I I always can tell the difference when I don't have lower back support. It's it's like actually distracting Chelsea: Yeah. Absolutely. Monica Hay: to me when my lower back isn't supported. Chelsea: Yep. And that, I mean, that kind of feeds into a question I get a lot, which is about standing desks. Monica Hay: Mm. Chelsea: great, love but just because you're standing doesn't mean your head, neck, shoulders, and arms have gotten out of the position of typing and looking at your computer. So Monica Hay: Yeah. Chelsea: All of your upper body's in the same position, your eyes are still directed at a screen, so your eye strain is still happening. Your hips and lower body are in a different position, which is great. But prolonged standing can also be bad for blood flow. So standing Monica Hay: Yeah. Interesting. Chelsea: desks, awesome. Walking pads, a little bit better, Monica Hay: Yeah. Chelsea: but The position of the upper body still the same. You gotta get away from your desks. They are. Monica Hay: Our bodies are so picky and n have so many needs. Chelsea: Yeah, the human body is so resilient and strong in some ways and very fragile in others. Monica Hay: Yeah, very fragile in others for sure. On that note, if you wanna learn more about movement and you wanna sign up for Chelsea staff, it's really awesome. It's nice to be able to just turn on a video and just be like, All right, I'm gonna get my stretches in. And it's designed for writers. Which is like specific specific Chelsea: Specifically war writers. Monica Hay: it's I think you're the only person I know who does this specifically for writers. No, but everybody else is like general. So this is Chelsea: Yeah. Monica Hay: really cool. Well thank you Chelsea for being here. Chelsea: Thank you for having me. I love chatting with you. You know that. Now everyone had to listen to it too. Monica Hay: Yes. You're I will say we're usually a tiny more unhinged, but you Chelsea: Mm. Monica Hay: know, we we we did our best. Thank you all for listening and I'll see you on the next episode.