A sedentary lifestyle is often blamed for excess weight and cardiovascular problems. The Anglo-Saxons even say “ sitting is the new smoking “. But we forget that movement is an important condition for the proper functioning of our immune system!

To understand why, here’s a quick reminder of how it’s all so cleverly put together.

The immune system is made up of many parts, including bone marrow, white blood cells, the spleen and all parts of the lymphatic system.

The lymphatic system includes the lymphatic vessels, which run alongside the vessels of our cardiovascular system, and hundreds of lymph nodes located along the lymphatic vessels.

Lymph nodes are tiny filters filled with lymphocytes (white blood cells) that help fight and eliminate harmful substances from your body. Lymph nodes are distributed throughout your body, but it’s very interesting to note that many nodes are grouped together in the body’s articulation zones, i.e. in areas that move. These include the neck, armpits and groin, as well as the chest wall, arms and legs.

Lymphatic and cardiovascular vessels all move a lot of fluid. Both systems depend on the movement of skeletal muscles to circulate blood and lymph (thanks to the regular contraction and relaxation of these muscles). But unlike the cardiovascular system, which benefits from the heart’s impulses to propel blood through the arteries, the lymphatic system depends to a very large extent on the “pump” effect induced by your body’s movement.

I’m always amazed by the efficiency and wisdom of our bodies, by the adaptations they’ve developed over millions of years of evolution. But the key to the problem lies in the fact that these very developments have taken an unimaginably long time. Even the Paleolithic still seems fairly recent if we look at the entire evolution of our species. However, sincethe past few decades, we’ve moved a long way away from our physiological functioning. My mother cycled or walked 7 km to school (and as much back), her parents didn’t have a car and probably walked at least 15 km a day just going about their daily business. The carrots were grated, the bread kneaded by hand and the floor cleaned with a broom.

Natural movement, functional movement. All day long.

Today, many of us walk only a few hundred meters a day, and sit (or stand) most of the day. How can we imagine that our lymphatic system, and therefore the immune system – let’s keep this point in mind – can be happy in this sedentary climate when all they’re waiting for is one thing: movement.

The movement of life is part of your immune system. So let’s try to make action part of our daily routine! Let’s take a look at our days and find moments when we can replace sedentary life with movement: park the car 10 minutes away from our destination, or at least in the most remote part of the parking lot, get off the bus 3 stops early, walk or cycle our children to school, do a few squats while brushing our teeth, set a reminder on our computer to get up every 40 minutes, replace your office chair with a pilates ball, sit on the floor and do a few stretches while watching a film, you’ll find plenty of other ideas. Even wearing ultra-soft (or minimalist) shoes will boost your lymphatic system.

I also invite you to read Kathy Bowman’s books (e.g. “ Don’t just sit there ” or ” Move Your DNA ” ). Kathy is an internationally recognized biomechanics researcher. With brio and a good dose of humor, she explains the concepts of biomechanics and discusses topics such as movement versus exercise, the perineum, pregnancy, health, nature, pain, walking and postural alignment, how the human body works, the body in society, children… And above all, how to reintroduce this endangered creature, movement, into our daily lives.

Kathy wisely reminds us ” You can’t eat badly all day and think that a healthy meal later on will make up for it; in the same way you can’t stay sedentary all day and think that an evening workout will make up for it. So let’s spread our dietary and motor vitamins throughout our day and our lives “.

These totally free motor vitamins will benefit our bodies, in particular by boosting our immune system.