Rebounding for Cancer and Overall Health…Get your bounce on!

This is probably the very best exercise for our immune system, and despite the fancy name of “rebounding”; all it refers to is the gentle up and down bouncing on a mini trampoline (also called a rebounder). Lymphatic fluids travel through our lymphatic system and with each up and down jump on the rebounder/mini trampoline, we are moving the lymph fluids along through our system about 15-30 times much more effectively than if we were standing still. Makes you want to get moving, doesn’t it?

Our lymphatic system is so essential to our immune system as it carries nutrients to our cells and carries waste products, dead cells and toxins away from our healthy tissue. Our bodies eliminate these waste products when we sweat or produce mucus, urine and liver bile (that’s carried out in our poo poo).

Lymph vessels are like blood vessels only that they consist of clear lymphatic fluid, which carries white blood cells throughout our bodies so that they can attack foreign invaders and detect and eliminate infected cells. Rebounding can induce a state called “neutrophillia”, which is the increase in the number of “neutrophils” – a type of white blood cell responsible for destroying cancer cells. Our bodies are truly amazing if you think about it.

However, lymph fluid needs movement in order to function properly. The lymph fluid moves through channels called “vessels” that are filled with one-way valves. This lymph fluid is then transported to lymph nodes that act as “filtering stations” in the body. In the lymph nodes, cells from the body’s natural defense system, called lymphocytes, help fight bacteria and viruses. The main lymph vessels run up the legs, the arms, the torso, and down from the face into the neck. This is why the vertical up and down movement of rebounding is so effective to pump the lymph. The more we move our sexy bodies, the more we get our lymphatic fluid moving. How hot is that?

And something interesting to note for metastatic cancer patients or those individuals who want to try to avoid a metastatic diagnosis is that metastatic cancer can travel through our bodies via two pathways, our blood and our lymphatic system. It’s that simple. So, it would be a no-brainer to work our lymphatic system as much as we possibly can so that yucky, nasty little cancer cells cannot infiltrate. Plus, our bodies are overburdened with toxins either through our environment, our food, our water, our cosmetics, and our household products, thus making detoxification very crucial. If we block our detoxification system, toxins will build up in our bodies and disease can strike.

So how do we effectively practice rebounding, you might ask? …. Well, essentially, with what’s known as the “health bounce”, your feet don’t even leave the mat! It’s that simple people! Of course, once you build some tolerance or are able to push yourself a little harder, you can begin to jump higher than that, which is something that you will want to work towards for sure. Then you can always do aerobic exercises as well, like jumping jacks, I personally like to dance and do all sorts of crazy moves. I like to get my funky on, did I just say that? Ultimately if you can push yourself to breaking out into a sweat at least once a day when using your rebounder, that would be very beneficial. And it’s really fun too! You can also jog or run in place. Unlike jogging on hard surfaces, which puts extreme stress on certain joints, rebounding affects every joint and cell in the body equally and is very low impact, as well as the fact that it allows us to do jumping and aerobic exercises for much longer intervals than we would be able to do on solid ground /hard surfaces without tiring out or creating harmful oxidative and adrenal stress. Score!

I try to go on my rebounder/mini trampoline about 2-3 times per day. Oh, and if it’s sunny outside (which for those of us in Canada, might mean June-ish), it’s so much better to do the rebounder/mini trampoline outside with the fresh air and Vitamin D! So, as soon as you can, bring that rebounder/mini trampoline outside and start taking some very deep breaths in, hold for a few seconds and then exhale…so amazing! Trust me, you will be addicted. I can’t wait for cottage time!