Movement Is Life

You may have heard the phrase, “Movement is life” in the film World War Z or somewhere else where its meaning has to do with the importance of mobility in a theater of operations: moving to safety, finding resources, joining allies, etc. Being stuck in one place too long can lead to being dead for any number of reasons. (I found that it’s actually part of a longer quote attributed to Jules Verne: “Movement is life; and it is well to be able to forget the past, and kill the present by continual change.”)

In any case, the phrase holds true over a range of more mundane situations and contexts as well. When the occasional sharp or heavy object gets fumbled in the kitchen, I think of another aphorism, “Quick feet are happy feet.” And these days being alert and responding appropriately to how close you are to someone else while shopping or passing through a doorway probably helps a little, too.

Movement in the form of anything from vigorous activity to pleasant stretching promotes health and longevity because we’re animals; not houseplants. Our whole body, including our brainparts, just work better when we engage in a wide range of movements on a regular basis.

And, of course, as many of us know from sitting through hours of either Zoom meetings or remote schooling or simply doing work at a computer, prolonged stillness contributes to that nearly irresistible urge to nod off. Movement is wakefulness.