This episode is for anyone who uses a screen… which is just about all of us.

From the subtle aches in your neck and wrists to the fatigue behind your eyes, our digital lives are having very real physical effects. In this episode of 1,000 Waking Minutes, we’ll explore what the constant scrolling, clicking, craning, and typing is doing to our bodies—and more importantly, what we can do about it. You’ll hear real stories, evidence-based tips, and simple but powerful stretches you can do in just a few minutes a day, no equipment needed.

Together, we’ll walk through 7 body tension zones, share a refreshing mindful minute for your eyes, and a few easy ways to reset and restore—even between meetings or emails.

Today we're spending a few

of our waking minutes together

on something most of us

don't even realize we're doing

until our body reminds us.

We're going to be addressing

something most of us do

for way too many of

our waking minutes every day

and that is doing what

I'm doing right now, staring.

We experience 1,000 waking

minutes on average every day.

How are you spending yours?

I'm Dr. Wendy Bazilian and

you're listening to 1,000

Waking Minutes.

I can't wait to connect

with you here with practical

ways to eat well, move

daily, and be healthy to

optimize every waking minute you

live for a happier, healthier

life.

Thank you for sharing some

of your waking minutes with

me today.

Let's get started.

I'm saying yes to better

days, yes.

I'm on my way, yes.

It's gonna be okay, yeah.

Welcome to 1,000 Waking

Minutes.

I'm Dr. Wendy Bazilian, your

host.

Today we're spending a few

of those waking minutes on

something most of us don't

even realize that we're probably

overdoing until our body reminds

us.

We're addressing something that most

of us spend a lot

of waking minutes each day

on and that is staring

at screens.

From phones to laptops, our

tablets, our TV, we spend

hours each day tethered to

our tech.

It connects us, of course.

It entertains us.

It informs us.

It helps us get our

work done and it exhausts

us mentally for sure, but

physically too.

Our necks, our wrists, our

eyes, they're all feeling it.

So this is the digital

life that we live in

and it's so key to

the way we operate today.

It's created so many efficiencies.

It allows us to be

on the go and still

connected.

It allows us to accomplish

things, check in on things

that we need, check in

on others.

It allows us to order

our groceries, our clothing, make

appointments online.

Think of all the things

that has changed the way

that we can be efficient

and navigate the world.

We can make our doctor's

appointments, even our oil changes,

we can schedule that way

without even picking up the

phone.

We can plan meals, we

can order taken and it

just shows up.

We can sign up for

exercise classes and we can

actually do those exercise classes

when we're looking at a

screen, interacting with a real

live human being or a

class that's been recorded and

instructs us.

We correspond, we watch movies,

we learn, and we scroll.

So I want to talk

today about the modern world

and how it meets our

very human bodies.

It's an episode about what

our digital life is sort

of doing to us physically

with all the clicking and

the scrolling, the cradling, the

craning of our eyes and

our neck, and I mean

what we can do to

help us recover and also

reduce its physical impact gently

and powerfully.

I don't know if you've

thought about this before unless

you've suffered some kinds of

strain from it that have

been directly attributed, but we

can all benefit from helping

our bodies handle the usage

that we put it under

under this kind of physical

and cognitive stress.

So this sort of fits

in the pillar of 'move

daily'.

I'm going to put it there

because I'm going to teach you

a few exercises and stretches

that we can do and

remember my sort of guiding

professional and personal mantra: eat

well, move daily, be healthy.

The three pillars of a

well-lived life that you

can practice during your waking

minutes each day.

So the goal here is

going to be simple.

It's to offer you some

small and meaningful movements and

moments of relief right where

you are.

You don't need a gym

for this.

You won't need to even

stand up for all of

them unless you care to,

which it's a good idea

to get up and stand

up, but just a few

minutes and a little attention

for our very human physical

body that's interacting with our

very digital world.

We weren't built to spend

so much time in this,

imagine whatever this position is,

the one sitting with your

hands on a keyboard perhaps.

Maybe your eyes are straight

ahead.

Maybe you do have ergonomics

set up in your office.

That's great.

A lot of us are

tipping our heads down to

phones and laptop screens and

tablets, and we weren't designed

to be locked in on

one screen, one device for

such long periods of time.

Just not the human design

that we could have ever

imagined.

But what we can do

and design is build in

some small practices that make

us feel a whole lot

better in the process.

So this is what it's

about today.

Easy resets, mini stretches that

actually make a difference.

So whether you're working right

now or you're staring at

a screen, maybe you're resting

or listening while multitasking while

you catch this episode, and

maybe you're even walking, hopefully

with one headphone in outside.

Keep on listening here because

I'm planning on helping give

your eyes, your neck, your

hands a little love before

this episode is over.

So I wanted to share,

I've been thinking about do

I share this or don't

I, but I decided to

share a personal medical story

time for a moment.

Those of you who know

me know that I sometimes

share things that are a

little off the wall and

hopefully you'll appreciate this, maybe

relate to it even with

your own kind of medical

story.

So this is the story

of my cyst, a wrist

cyst in fact, and it's

not one that I've really

shared before beyond my family.

So maybe I'm taking a

wrist cyst risk, but I'm

happy to do it in

the name of what we're

doing today and why I

wanted to do this episode

so imminently, so now.

So very recently, within the

last probably eight weeks, I

recognized, I noticed a ganglion

cyst on my wrist.

It was right at the

connection of my wrist along

the line of my thumb,

the inner crease where you

bend.

And it's definitely as annoying

once you see it there

and feel it there as

it sounds.

It's one of those things

that shows up on people

and apparently me.

I've had one before and

I'll tell you about that.

When you use an area

of your body and it

tries to like contain and

create something inside as a

mechanism of defense or protection,

it's like a little balloon

and it was near my

wrist joint and just hangs

around.

Especially if you use your

hands a lot, you're more

inclined to get them, but

not everyone gets them.

And of course, most of

us use our hands a

lot.

So this was the size

of a pea, if you

can imagine that.

Actually a little bigger than

a pea and it was

hard, maybe like a pearl.

Yeah, that would be a

good way to think about

it.

And a big one.

It was like, let's say

eight or nine millimeters.

It was almost a centimeter.

It was pretty big and

it was hard like a

pearl.

Perfectly round if you felt

it under the skin.

And it was a good

size and it was noticeable.

All of a sudden, I

saw it pop up.

I hadn't seen it emerging,

curiously enough.

We get into our life.

It's not something that you're

assessing or looking all over.

And then it was there

and then I couldn't not

notice it.

I couldn't unnotice it.

It didn't hurt.

And when I would touch

it, it would sort of

roll around a little bit,

but it stayed put like

sort of near your ligaments

and tendons that are there.

I had one of these

once before.

I can't remember exactly when,

maybe close to a decade

ago.

And I was sent actually

to a hand specialist, an

orthopedic surgeon, to check it

out.

And he helped me then.

And he did an outpatient

procedure.

So this is where my

brain was going as soon

as I started seeing this.

An outpatient procedure was really

fast.

He was really wonderful.

And it was a forgettable

amount of pain.

I recall it being painful,

but it was outpatient.

It was right there at

his desk.

He numbed it.

He put a pretty sizable

needle in through my wrist

into it.

And boom, it popped like

a balloon.

A little strange.

It didn't ooze.

It didn't have anything.

In fact, when he pulled

the needle out, it was

just skin.

I just needed a band

-aid just from the puncture

of the needle.

He had told me then

that while cosmetically it was

unappealing, and again, once you

see it, you can't unnotice

this sort of hard pearl

that is on your wrist

that grows, but it could

become problematic if it interferes

with your movement or if

it starts pressing on things

like nerves.

But generally, they're harmless.

So he told me at

the time, and sort of

as he was sort of

relaying to me, I'm like,

what is this odd thing

in my body?

What's going on?

He told me that, and

maybe you've heard about this,

there's like old folklore that

says when you get these

type of cysts that you

slam it with a textbook

to get rid of it.

And believe it or not,

there are many people, you

might be hearing and nodding,

there are many people since

that time who have heard

that or said that when

I mentioned a cyst or

talk about it.

Oh, that's what you do.

It was sometimes even called

a "Bible Bump", these ganglion

cysts, I came to find

out, because people would take

the Bible, I guess, and

bang it on the wrist.

Folklore or not, this is

a sort of remedy that

I heard about in, let's

call it medical legend.

So anyway, I don't know

about you, but when something

weird is going on in

my body, I check on

it.

And because it was at

my wrist, I checked on

it regularly.

And I would sort of

press on it, I would

sort of move it, I

would put it on my

to-do list for the

day to call and get

the medical appointment scheduled.

But it would drop off

because, again, it wasn't hurting

me, it was just sort

of annoying to be there.

I sort of knew that

I'd had this before, it

wasn't going to be harmful.

The first time it made

me really nervous when I

got it.

So I got right in

there years ago.

And this is where I'm

going to put myself out

there a little bit.

I didn't try the book

approach.

I was tempted, although I

didn't quite know how I

could wing that on myself.

And I didn't think that

my family members would be

willing to sort of come

down hard on my wrist

with a book.

But I would occasionally press

it, I'd squeeze it, and

just wouldn't budge.

It felt solid.

It's like it was it's

a really weird thing to

describe that it's hollow, but

it's really hard and round.

So I would do that

occasionally, I would just sort

of check on it and

squeeze it.

And it wasn't the first,

but maybe the 10th, maybe

the 12th, I don't know

over a number of days.

And into my procrastinating on

making that appointment, I was

mindlessly checking it out.

I remember talking to my

daughter just having a general

conversation.

And all of a sudden,

my eyes sprung wide open.

And I started laughing.

And I felt this "pop"

and this weird sensation come

over me.

It finally burst.

I'm sorry, I'm telling you

this.

It's a little too close

for comfort, maybe.

But it popped.

And then I felt relief.

And then I kept checking

it.

And everything was completely flat.

Somehow I had either through

the repeated motion or just

squeezing or it was just

that time I heard enough,

it popped, it dissipated, and

it was gone.

You I know, but guess

what?

It was such a great

relief.

I did call and mention

it to my primary doctor

just to be sure she's

so wonderful.

And she I could hear

a smile in her voice

and just she confirmed basically

what the orthopedic surgeon and

with the needle what that

accomplishes.

And just to be mindful

that my personal constitution that

I may be more prone

to this because of something

about me personally, maybe my

posture also, and also my

work and my digital life.

So I'm not saying you

should try this at home.

But it did remind me

how very physical tech use

can be.

And how our bodies will

absolutely tell us when enough

is enough.

And it's why I thought

now was a good time

to share some of the

exercises that I've done, and

taught others as well, not

just recently, but over many

years.

So I've re upped and

recommitted to my routine, you

know, admittedly, sometimes we get

lazy on some of these

if they're if it's not

heard, or if it's not

bothering you, you just go

on with your day.

And sometimes we forget, but

I hope you find them

helpful and worth a few

of your waking minutes and

on a regular basis, too.

So why do we need

a digital reset, or to

have some opportunities to stretch

and exercise ourselves out of

this constant contact?

Well, this is what I

like to call the ROIs,

the returns on investment.

So before I share some

exercises today, I want to

underscore why having some digital

rescue moves, some remedies like

targeted stretches, some exercises, why

it's important to our now

our daily and our long

term health.

So here are some of

the benefits I want to

paint before you.

Your body is, of course,

what you're investing in when

I'm talking about the returns

on investment toward a healthy,

well lived life.

And hopefully, not just today,

but many vital years to

come.

So why should we take

breaks from tech?

And also why should we

do some moves and stretching

to strengthen and support our

digital life?

Whether you're texting or emailing,

Facebooking, scrolling the internet, researching,

working, it's constant that we're

on it.

And one of the major

problems with the tech era,

as opposed to the typewriter

times is how long we

stay on it without taking

breaks.

So as much as we

love them, our devices have

a tricky way of wreaking

havoc, of drawing us in,

wreaking havoc on our bodies.

And enter evidence a my

wrist cyst.

That was relatively minor in

the scheme of things, though.

So repetitive movements, number one,

like grasping your phone, keyboarding,

texting, they can cause muscle

tension and irritate your tendons.

Tech and terrible posture go

together.

They're like, linked up, like,

I've been visiting a lot

of sort of specialty cafes,

and they have overpriced lattes.

So maybe we can think

of tech and terrible posture.

They go together like those

specialty lattes that cost a

fortune in those very fancy

coffee shops that we love

to go.

They go together.

They're a pair.

We tilt forward toward our

tablets and our phones.

We put undue pressure on

our necks and back.

So some of the ROIs,

I'm going to do this

sort of by body part

or body region.

Number one, by doing some

of these rescue moves, you

can save your spine.

When you look down at

a 60 degree angle, you

inadvertently are putting nearly 60

pounds of pressure on your

neck.

So the average head is

about 8 to 10 pounds

in weight.

But as you tip, as

you use an angle, the

pressure, this is back to

physics back in high school

or college if you studied

there, becomes nearly 60 pounds

of pressure, like a 60

pound dumbbell pulling on your

neck muscles every time.

So over time, it adds

up and it leads to

something that some have called

tech neck.

Even in the peer reviewed

research, this isn't just the

media headlines I'm talking about,

tech neck or text neck

and possibly chronic neck and

back pain over time.

On the extreme side, the

meta, I just chuckled, I

shouldn't, this is this is

dead serious, but I can't

believe the evolution here.

The medical community has even

observed that some people even

grow an extra horn-like

bone at the base of

their necks.

According to some research out

of Australia, it's like a

mutation of sorts to, I

guess, the body intention to

support the head which weighs

that 8 to 10 pounds.

But fortunately, better posture and

neck exercises can counteract the

effects and I'm going to

show you just a couple

today.

Another benefit or return on

our investment from engaging in

this way, just a few

minutes every day and taking

some smart strategic breaks, is

you can help protect your

thumbs, your hands, and your

wrists.

Do you remember when we

used to call it blackberry

thumb?

I always think of Little

Jack Horner when I think

of the thumb and blackberry.

I think of pie.

I don't think it was

a plum pie.

He pulled out a plum.

But anyway, I always think

of that when I think

of blackberry thumb.

But this was related, of

course, to the early smartphones,

the blackberries, and the chronic

pain that people started experiencing.

And it was a strain

injury that sort of evolved

into what we now know

is carpal tunnel syndrome and

carpal tunnel injury.

It's a strain that affects

the tendons on the thumb

side of our wrists and

it's really brought on by

constant smartphone use.

Additionally, being heavy on the

keyboard, meaning longtime use, constant

use, wrong angles.

You know, now we have

pads in front of some

of the keyboards, which is

good, but not all laptops

have them or maybe you're

on the go and you

forgot to bring it.

But it can also exacerbate

some of the carpal tunnel

and different wrist symptoms as

well.

And rippling pain through the

wrist, some get numbness, some

really can't even touch the

keyboard after a few minutes.

Actually, a study in Muscle

and Nerve Journal found that

students who overuse electronic devices

are more likely to suffer

wrist and hand pain as

well as changes to particular

nerves in their hands.

So ultimately, it's the repetitive

movement, like scrolling and typing

and texting, that can cause

our tendons to become irritated.

And it's very real.

The positive news is that

targeted exercises and some stretches,

a couple that I'll share

with you and show you

today, can help keep the

nerve channels open, they can

offer some rest and relief,

they can help reduce pain

and inflammation, among other benefits.

So how about our eyes?

Just really think about your

eyes.

All this visual lockdown, in

other words, restricting our vision

at a fixed distance for

long periods of time, it's

taking a toll on everyone's

eyesight, young and old.

It causes eye strain, it

can cause dry eyes.

We actually blink less when

we're staring at the screen,

research has shown.

It can cause blurred vision

and even headaches on nearly

a constant basis.

So we need to give

our eyes a break.

Nearly 60% of adults

report symptoms related to digital

eye strain, and this includes

things like dryness and blurred

vision, like I mentioned, burning

eyes, difficulty focusing, and of

course those headaches.

And even kids are feeling

it.

I have an easy way

to help us remember and

practice something that will help

us with that fixed gaze,

and I'll share that in

a few minutes.

But one more quick did

-you-know moment that I

learned recently about, that impacts

the eyes, is that professional

esports, in other words, video

gaming, are now Olympic recognized

and will debut in a

side Olympic esport game in

2027.

So they are run by

the IOC, the International Olympic

Committee, along with a partner

organization.

And esports are organized, competitive

video gaming, and they're also

solo athletes and there are

teams involved.

I'm just learning this, it

blows my mind, not a

judgment, a fascination.

But, and I need to

mention this part, guess what

the top health complaint is

among these athletes?

Eye fatigue.

That's what it is.

Eye fatigue.

They're staring at screens, they're

intently focused, they're athletes of

their own kind, their own

sport, the esports.

Eye fatigue, the number one

complaint.

And then there's headaches.

This is another thing that

digital overuse or repetitive use

can create for us.

You can prevent or at

least minimize the frequency, severity,

and duration of headaches if

you do certain strategies to

help relieve digital use strain.

So tension headaches, stress headaches,

the kind that show up

right behind your eye or

across your forehead, if you've

ever had those, screen time

and eye strain play a

role here.

And so does neck posture,

of course, they are all

interrelated when it comes to

headaches.

And if you suffer migraines,

I suffer migraines, while it

may not be a primary

trigger for you, it's definitely

a contributor, all this digital

use.

And let's face it, when

you have a headache, and

you have to work through

it somehow, because your work

is using the screen.

Wow, oh, wow, that is

such a difficult scenario.

It's another reason why we

really need to attend to

this.

So taking screen breaks can

help quell some of that,

the tension headaches, often brought

on by digital eye strain.

And adding stretches and relaxing

breathing can also help reduce

some of the debilitating stress

headaches and symptoms from the

excess illumination of the screens,

from the eye strain from

the computer screens.

In addition to moving, and

reducing some of that prolonged

sitting and the potentially poor

posture that comes with it.

Okay, so now you know

the why some of the

reasons and the why we're

going to put some of

these stretches and exercises and

breaks into our lives.

Now I need to give

you the how.

And when I was preparing

for today, I realized I

do have a lot of

exercises that I've used and

taught over the years, and

a whole sequence even that

you can follow.

So I imagine I will

have to come up with

some good ways, starting today,

but throughout the episodes to

come to build in some

of those and maybe create

some new materials that I

can share out to you

to help bring some of

these to life.

And if you're interested in

that, please encourage me by

writing and dropping me a

line or coming on the

Instagram to tell me about

it, because it really helps

me create things that are

meaningful, which is my whole

goal here with the podcast,

for us to create a

community for me to lend

my expertise, but also lend

my real life experience and

learn from you as well.

So today in this episode,

I want to focus on

just a few key exercises,

though.

But in order to do

that, I wanted to share

a way to scan our

body a bit and recognize

how tech can affect us

physically, really from head to

toe.

We're going to focus sort

of on the waist up

today.

But hopefully this is not

too surprising once I plant

the seed in your mind,

since we are connected, our

bodies, that is, in so

many ways, our blood vessels

run throughout our body from

our heart back to our

heart.

Our nerves, our muscles, our

tendons, our ligaments, our organs

are all interrelated, but they're

actually connected, our tissue.

And of course, our largest

organ, our skin, it holds

us all in in a

nice little package.

It's all connected.

So I like to think

of sort of seven body

zones for screen relief, and

I'll introduce them to you

by showing you the exercises.

I will do like one

round of each, but then

tell you how to take

it into your own experience.

And then I'll do some

posts so that we can

get them and I'll put

some in the show notes

so that you know what

they are.

We're going to look at

our neck, our shoulders, our

wrist, hands and thumb, our

posture overall.

And on our mindful minute,

we're going to talk about

and talk through and do

a little something with our

eyes.

So in other words, these

are our primary tech tension

zones.

So I want to move

through them together in succession.

I'll do them briefly.

But I encourage you to

spend one to five minutes

on each of these one

or more times a day

and focus a little more

on the ones that you

really feel or you know

that you need.

So the first is neck

relief.

And there are a number

of exercises for the neck.

But this is just a

simple stretch.

And what we're going to

do, I don't want to

call it this, this is

neck relief.

But what we're going to

do is smell our armpit.

And I'm not kidding.

So what I want you

to do is sit tall,

feet on the floor, and

tilt your head slightly one

direction, let's say to the

left, approximately 45 degrees, and

use your hand to guide

your nose toward your armpit.

So the goal is guiding

your nose toward your armpit.

It's not pulling, but it's

guiding.

If it feels a little

tight or tense, breathe into

it.

You can come up to

center and readjust.

Sometimes we get little crinks

and clicks and everything.

This is not about adjusting

your neck.

Please don't do that.

This is about gentle stretching.

But sometimes we come up

and we just need to

like move just a little

bit and then do it

again.

And basically, smell your armpit.

And then we're going to

do the other side.

And as you do these,

what I encourage you to

do is hold the stretch

and do five slow, easy,

deep breaths.

So let's do the other

side because I feel out

of balance if I don't

do that.

Tilt and smell your armpit.

Simply breathe.

Five breaths.

Drop your hand and bring

your head upright.

So I hope I do

put this on video on

YouTube, but I hope that

the way I'm verbalizing it,

you're getting the idea.

And you do both sides.

You can do it again

even.

This should feel really good.

And I haven't come up

with a better way of

describing it because if you

direct your nose toward your

armpit, you really get that

angle that I'm talking about

that we really need.

Number two, our shoulder rolls.

So again, we're sitting easy

and gently.

We're sort of tipping our

chin in just a little

bit, sort of trying to

check your ears over your

shoulders.

And we're going to get

to that with our posture

check in a moment as

well.

But just simple shoulder rolls.

First, roll them forward five

times.

One, two, three, four, five.

As you do this, I'm

speaking, so you can't hear

me breathing naturally, but you're

breathing naturally as you do

this.

And then you reverse five

times back.

One, two, three, four, five.

Maybe take a pause for

five or 10 seconds and

then do another couple repetitions

of that if you wish.

The third, and this one's

really critical, and it will

surprise you.

And hopefully you'll feel better

and better over time, but

you'll be surprised at how

tight you may be in

your wrists.

Okay, so this is one

where I want you to

extend your arm, so let's

say the right arm, out

straight in front of you.

Don't overstretch it.

And with your other hand,

take your fingers and pull

them up.

So you're going to create

a flex where your palm

is facing straight ahead as

if you're saying stop.

And pull it gently just

beyond comfort and then back

off a little bit.

Don't overstretch it.

And while we're breathing, we

just hold it five to

eight seconds.

I'm going to keep the

number five in your mind

so that you have some

different options on how to

remember.

How many times?

How many seconds?

How many breaths?

Five.

And then we're going to

flex it downward.

We're going to point our

fingers downward, the opposite direction,

as if your fingers are

pointing straight toward the floor.

And hold that for five

to eight seconds, or about

five breaths.

Five very slow seconds.

Do you have a slow

second?

I guess it's just a

second.

Five slow counts.

And then we're going to

repeat that with the other

arm.

So let's do it.

We'll do one time.

And I encourage you to

do this more times to

repeat this because it really

is so good.

Take your left arm right

out in front of you.

You're going to make the

stop halt symbol with your

hand with your fingers pointing

toward the ceiling.

Take your right hand and

gently pull back your fingers

to sort of articulate the

stretch a little bit further.

When you're at the point

of tension, just back up

a little bit.

You're getting a stretch even

you don't have to pull

really hard.

We're not trying to create

inflammation or create pain.

We're just stretching.

Five to eight seconds.

Five breaths.

You get the idea.

And now fingers down.

Keep your arm outward.

Fingers toward the ground.

Gentle.

Pull.

Feel.

You should feel it up

your forearm even.

So you might feel it

on the back of your

wrist some.

But this particular stretch, you

feel sort of run up

your forearm, the muscles that

connect into the tendons and

ligaments around your elbow.

And that's the wrist.

Next.

I love these.

Next are our hands.

And we're going to do

jazz hands.

So with your hands comfortably

in front of you, your

elbows can be bent.

Hands can be out.

Whatever is comfortable.

I want you to make

some fists and hold them.

Fist tight.

Hold them.

And you're going to do

this.

How many breaths?

Probably five.

Five to eight seconds.

And then you're going to

stretch your fingers wide out

like jazz hands.

I guess you can give

a shake if you want.

If you were a dancer

and you like to do

jazz hands.

But really this is about

the stretch out wide.

And you'll repeat this five

times.

So fists.

We'll do it just a

couple times.

Hold and spread them wide.

Give them a little shake.

Shimmy.

Makes you smile.

And that's jazz hands.

So that's our hands.

Now number five of the

seven point scan we're doing

with our body for our

digital relief is our thumb.

We're going to give it

a little TLC.

So I want you to

spread your fingers out, but

relax.

So if you're watching or

if you're listening and not

watching, I'm just sort of

showing a halt sign, like

stop where you are, but

my fingers are outstretched.

Now, what I want you

to do is to stretch

your thumb gently across your

palm, reaching toward your pinky

really, but on your palm

for about five seconds or

five breaths.

Good.

Now I want you to

stretch it wide the opposite

way and make sort of

that jazz hand, but we're

really focusing on our thumb.

There's other things you can

do here, but this is

a really good PT move,

a physical therapy move that

I've been given as an

exercise in the past when

I've had thumb issues.

And actually, interestingly, as I

just did it, my thumb

sort of cramped up.

I'm going back to my

pinky again across my palm.

My thumb sort of cramped

up a little bit.

I really needed this right

now as I was doing

it and then spread it

wide.

And you want to repeat

that about five times on

each side.

So while we're here, I'm

going to do the left

hand.

I'm really all about balance.

You might have one area,

one side that you need

more attention to, and that's

fine as well, but it's

really good when you're doing

these exercises to do both.

So my thumb is on

my palm against my pinky,

pointing toward it now.

My hand is outright stretched,

and now I'm back in

sort of the jazz hands,

but focusing, putting attention on

my thumb.

Do that just a couple

times and we'll move on.

This is a circuit you

could do.

Six is a posture check.

On your chair, so this

is an important one, sit

where you sit and with

your feet uncrossed.

I want you to sit

back, put your back against

the chair.

I want you to tuck

your chin in a little

bit and gently down.

I tend to extend my

neck upward when I'm looking

at my screen.

It's my natural inclination, and

I do have and suffer

from some neck issues because

of it and neck tension

that I have to often

address in a number of

ways like these stretches.

But you tuck your neck,

your chin gently down, and

sort of feel the back

of your neck elongate just

a little.

Again, this is not a

stretch, this is just a

gentle tuck.

Then readjust your head, which

for me is like bringing

it back a little bit

to get your ears over

your shoulders.

And with that, you start

to feel a change.

It should feel a little

easier on your whole body.

While you're there, bring yourself

into a very erect, tall

posture, sort of pushing your

head toward the ceiling.

This isn't to maintain this

as your posture, it's just

to check and then let

yourself come back to a

little more relaxed position, maintaining

your chin a little tucked

and your ears over your

shoulder.

When you're doing that, you

pull in your abs a

little bit, you straighten your

spine, and then you're relaxed

again, and you're a little

bit more aligned and more

comfortable, hopefully, as well.

Finally, in our seven-point

body scan, I'm going to

focus on the eyes.

They are so important.

By the way, you don't

have to do all seven,

you don't have to do

them in this order, but

I put the eyes last

because I'm going to roll

them into our mindful minute.

I'm going to eye roll

them into our mindful minute

today, which of course is

a time where we take

typically a minute together to

sort of assess and be

aware of our time, to

be aware of our bodies,

our breathing, and give ourselves

a little self-care.

In doing that, this will

take a little bit more

than a minute.

If you do it on

your own, it's just a

minute of your time.

This will require you to

be somewhere safe so that

you can be seated or

standing, but if you are

driving, you won't be able

to do this right now,

so you can breathe and

gain the benefits of just

some purposeful breathing over the

minute as you listen to

the description because we are

going to be covering our

eyes.

So, you know how we

talk about 2020 as perfect

vision, or our eye doctors

especially do.

They put us to the

literal test and they have

us look at the line

and see if we can

read it, and we correct

our vision to 2020 or

thereabouts, and metaphorically speaking, we

say hindsight is 2020.

Well, there is a rule

out there for our eyes

to help us with relieving

digital eye strain, and it's

called the 20-20-20

rule.

I didn't invent this.

It's a practice that's recommended

by the American Academy of

Ophthalmology and the American Optometric

Association as well, and this

20-20-20 means every

20 minutes, take a 20

-second break and focus on

something 20 feet away.

Our eye muscles, like most

of our muscles, are designed

to move, and our eye

muscles are designed to refocus

and shift points of focus

and look side to side,

and many of us these

days sit in fixed positions

at fixed distances, staring at

a glowing screen, and even

blinking less, researchers have observed,

blinking less than we should

for hours on end, and

so it's really no surprise

that we get this digital

eye strain, that our muscles

weaken and become at risk,

our eyes do, of becoming

impaired or weak.

So we're going to do

this mindful minute.

It will take us a

little bit more than a

minute.

I'll set my stopwatch so

I keep track just in

the describing of it, but

the 20-20-20 is

going to be our now

and our ongoing goal.

So in preparation of this,

let's do one of those

preparatory breaths that we do,

where we take a nice

deep breath in through our

nose and out through our

mouth.

Okay, and as we begin,

just follow along with this

little bit of this script

that I will share with

you verbally.

So first, I want you

to blink slowly for a

few seconds.

Purposeful blinks.

Blinking is actually something that

is both automatic, unconscious, and

a conscious choice.

So blink purposefully a few

times.

Feel your eye muscles as

you do that.

Maybe a little bit of

tears start to form even.

Now, I want you to

take your hands and rub

them together palm to palm.

Rub them together to warm

them up.

Once there's a bit of

friction, a bit of warmth,

then we're going to gently

cup your palms over your

eyes.

You can close your eyes.

You're not pressing.

You're just covering them.

You're creating some darkness.

You're putting a little warmth

toward your eyes and close

your eyes.

As you do that, breathe

in through your nose, out

through your mouth about five

times.

Picture the warmth in your

mind.

Don't look at it.

Picture it.

And then we're going to

repeat it a few times.

As the warmth leaves and

dissipates, gently create friction on

your hands again.

Warm your hands up and

do this cupping again.

When you've gone through a

few cycles of that, maybe

two to three cycles or

so, it feels really good.

Do some more.

Uncover your eyes and look

across a room, across the

space, 20 feet away if

you can.

And I encourage you to

actually measure this out.

You can gain a sense

not only in your spaces

that you spend a lot

of time, but also just

a sense when you're out

and about what 20 feet

looks like.

It might surprise you.

And let your eyes refocus

at that distance and breathe

in about five times in

and out before bringing your

eyes back front and center.

And you can repeat that.

You come front and center

and then shoot your eyes

out 20 feet, breathe in

and out five times, come

back to center, and you're

done.

Just like that, you've done

the 20-20-20 rule.

And it's a nervous system

reset at the same time.

So that was a couple

minutes in explanation, but you

can see how that would

just take about a minute

to do on your own.

And that's our mindful minute

for today.

So thank you for sharing

that mindful minute with me.

So before we wrap up

this episode, I want to

give you a bonus exercise

actually for your eyes.

It's something that I really

love to do.

And well, it's not really

that I love it so

much.

It's that I love the

way it makes me feel

after I do it.

So maybe that's more accurate

there.

I tend to call this

the silly eye stretches.

And it's not silly in

why you do it or

how it makes you feel,

but it's sort of silly

in how it makes you

look, especially if other people

are around and catch you

doing it, especially people like

you, my daughter, when I'm

doing it.

But it can make you

smile.

And of course we know

smiles are good for our

health too.

And it's very straightforward, actually.

And you might remember it

by thinking of it as

a looking star.

I think of it like

a star.

So I'm going to walk

you through this briefly.

And I'll do the brief

version, but I will cover

both sides so that we

get the complete exercise together.

So again, you're going to

always sit forward in your

chair comfortably in good posture,

feet on the floor, knees

and legs uncrossed, your head

straight above your shoulders.

Remember that big weight that's

sitting above your shoulders.

When you tip it forward,

it can be up to

60 pounds of pressure.

So we're bringing our chin

in, our ears over our

shoulders.

And this is an exercise

for your eyes.

So you're not going to

move your neck or your