I keep spraining my ankle. How do I stop this from happening?

Jaina

Hey Jaina, remember the golden rule: where there’s no worry, there’s no hurry. Life is to be savoured slowly. When you rush, the careless toe invariably finds a crevice…the surprised ankle goes into a twist and …!!! Okay, here’s what you do:

*Organise yourself better. Keep all to-carry stuff ready the previous evening. Arise an hour earlier. Don’t over-commit to a hundred things – focus on few and see how beautifully your day flows.

*Train yourself to relax. Daily, sit in a quiet spot, eyes closed. Visualise you’re in a lush, slumbering rainforest. Slowly repeat “I’mmm calmmm”, concentrating on the ‘mmm’. Drone on until you feel yourself r-e-l-a-x… Now decide this is how you’ll be all day – cool.

*Take control of your legs. Daily, stand with your right palm placed against the wall for support. Raise your left leg smoothly up sideways until it’s parallel to the floor, then lower it gently – 30 times. Repeat with right leg. While raising-lowering, keep your eyes on it. By paying attention, you establish a quiet mastery over it.

Can lack of exercise really cause stress? Which exercise would you have me do?

Rajan

It’s not that lack of exercise causes stress, Rajan, but if you workout regularly, you’re able to act like a champ during stress. In one study: Students were divided into two batches – regular exercisers and non-exercisers. They were given impossible problems to solve and were told that the test would indicate how they’d fare in higher studies. All flunked the test. When informed about their poor performance, the non-exercisers showed tight muscles, high anxiety and elevated blood pressure; while the exercisers remained stable in all three.

I suggest: For 10 days, walk briskly for 20 minutes. Next 10 days, increase to 30. After 10 days, give me 45. Start today. And keep going!

(The writer is co-author of the book Fitness for Life .)

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