JANZ is grateful to Malcom Hood, physiotherapist, for accepting a ‘fitness’ coach position for judges. He comes with a wealth of experience and wisdom gained from his work with the SAS and All Blacks. In his first article he judges our sedentary life and urges greater movement. Malcolm and Susan have four children, three graduated in law at Otago University on the same day. One is currently a defence lawyer in New Zealand. One is a prosecuting assistant DA in the USA. One is a managing partner who works in both defence and prosecutorial roles. A son-in-law — a senior partner in a law firm in New Zealand. A daughter-in-law is a science graduate studying law part-time. We’ve got him surrounded.
“Movement is the first sign of life, lack of movement is the first sign of death.” — M Hood.
Just as we applaud the All Blacks for being actively expansive, fair, and achieving great results professionally, we also applaud our judges for the same attributes. However, judges are not expansively active, rather they’re often selectively sedentary. They select the active use of their brain but their body is often ignored.
The prosecution’s case
Generally, many judges are not being fair to the regions of their body that are most crying for care. Judges rationalise their dedication to intellectual work is warranted at the expense of physical output. How often do you say I would’ve run but court sat late; I’ve a reserve judgement to write; or I must prepare for tomorrow's ugly list, committee meeting, or research. Failure to engage the widespread body to sound fitness is frequently ignored. Although, in fairness, there are areas of a wide-spreading body in some parts of a judges anatomy. As an ex-army friend said recently, “My expanding abdomen is simply showing I’m in training to be a dedicated CEO.”
There are strong arguments that physical and intellectual performance intertwine.
Exercise and the brain
Exercise helps memory and thinking through both direct and indirect means. The benefits of exercise come directly from its ability to reduce insulin resistance, reduce inflammation, and stimulate the release of growth factors, which are chemicals in the brain that affect the health of brain cells, the growth of new blood vessels in the brain, and even the abundance and survival of new brain cells.
Indirectly, exercise improves mood and sleep, and it reduces stress and anxiety. Problems in these areas frequently cause or contribute to cognitive impairment.
Many studies have suggested that the parts of the brain that control thinking and memory (the prefrontal cortex and medial temporal cortex) have greater volume in people who exercise versus people who don’t.
Dr. Scott McGinnis, a neurologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and an instructor in neurology at Harvard Medical School says, “Even more exciting is the finding that engaging in a programme of regular exercise of moderate intensity over six months or a year is associated with an increase in the volume of selected brain regions.”
The ultimate case is absolute — a dead judge has no intellect at all, and failures to exercise correctly has direct and adverse consequences on longevity of life. The argument becomes strong — what depletion of peak performance is there as one transitions from best health to poor health? Perhaps this conclusion has been subliminally made for judges as compulsory retirement remains at 70 years. Statutory senility is not an excuse for inactivity. The science is clear the older you get the more you need to move.
Why do judges sit
On New Zealand National Radio, the Professor Emeritus of Pathology from the United Kingdom commented, “Employers who provide their employees a chair at work should be charged with murder.”
A more judicious way of saying the same thing is Judge Gerard Winter’s comment, “At least you die quickly in an electric chair.” From a medical standpoint there is even some perverse pride that has morphed into the judiciary’s terminology no doubt that’s why the judiciary marks achievement with ‘special sittings’!
The observation of poor potential health and posture is well ingrained into potential judges. Our twin sons played for Otago Rugby Law. Vultures, a word picture of the anticipated carriage of the legal fraternity, ventral flexion of the head and cervical spine, hunched thoracic spine, slumped lumbar spine, inert under utilised calf muscles.
The worst exercise of all is sitting doing nothing but reading or writing on a computer or in a book. Here’s why:
We all spend the first nine months of life in the foetal position. For the next 20 years, each day, we all fight hard physically to defy gravity and become upright citizens. For the next 20 years we enjoy the erect stance and general human endeavour of reaching full height and benefits that outer range movement offers. For the rest of our lives, gravity bearing down at 32 lbs per square inch ensures we return to our foetal position. Judges uplifted choose to sit on the bench, foetally inclined, for most of their prime time. Often returning to a seat in chambers. If judges want to be compared with vultures rather than Dame Valerie Adams, that is their choice, a choice to sit and not take a stand, even if it does adversely affect our well being.
What to do
While you know exercise is good for you — you’ve heard so a million times — newer research on its far-reaching benefits is something anyone in middle age or older truly needs to hear. The latest evidence is showing that exercise not only strengthens your heart and may trim your waist, but regular physical activity can actually slow the ageing process on a cellular level and potentially add years to your life.
Consider this: while guidelines now recommend at least 2.5 hours every week of moderate intensity exercise (or one hour and 15 minutes of vigorous exercise), Harvard University researchers recently noted that as little as 15 minutes of physical activity a day can boost your lifespan by three years.
What’s more, a remarkable 2018 JAMA Network Open study found that not exercising increases your risk of premature death more than cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and even smoking.
I ask judges to minimally sentence themselves to two areas of fitness concurrently:
Circulation and blood flow
Joint hygiene — especially spinal
Hopefully commencement will be the catalyst for more exercise.
Circulation
Most people think humans have one heart — the one in the chest wall, which has an easy job pumping the blood mostly downhill to the little toe. But how does the blood get back? Hearts two and three — the calf muscles — squeeze the blood back up to the chest. The chest heart beats ‘lub dub, lub dub’ at a beat that the calf muscles emulate and echo with the resulting footfalls in tune with the chest heart. If a person thinks of Beyonce or Brad Pitt, the chest heart rate increases, but so too, for most of us, does the action of the legs — we run towards Beyonce and Brad, or away, depending on circumstance.
Heartbeat one = heartbeat two plus heartbeat three. A judge’s heart rate may increase, but their primitive response of ‘fight or flight’ is outweighed by self-imposed chair incarceration. Solution? Pump the calf muscles when sitting, but more importantly catch up by more physical leg loading at all recesses. The judge’s car park should be the furthest away from the court. All judges must have standing desks. The stairs and not the lift is a good choice.
Spinal hygiene
The gravest risks for judges are spinal problems. All joints can only maintain integrity if one surface is polished against the other. Sitting kills joints — but help is at hand. A simple short, specific mobility programme keeps the cells habitable and available for use.
Eradicating Vulture’s Neck
Hold both arms as close as possible in the vertical, stretch arms backwards for five to 20 seconds. Repeat two to three times.
Unlocking the institutionalised thoracic spine
Unilaterally place thumb tips against a wall, one arm up, one arm down. Hold for a few seconds, then change arms. Do not change head or shoulder girdle placement. Repeat three to four times per side.
Lumbar interrogation exercise
Hold both arms up against a wall and lean your lower back forward. Staying as upright as possible, hula both ways three to four times on each side. Repeat after prolonged sitting.
There are only 1,440 minutes in the day, so for the busy judge this exercise prescription is a pragmatic one. Take two to three minutes once a day, five days a week for each exercise, plus four minutes for toothbrushing, leaving just 1,427 for judge’s indulgences. Remember, an All Black rugby player only works 80 minutes a week, but on the big day spends 20 minutes preparing for that 80 minutes of work, but then they are paid well.
Summary
Judges self inflict poor health — they sit at the bench.
Witnesses are given the benefit of good health, they take the stand.
For the public’s well being, judges are expected to be fair to the public.
Judges are not fair on their own well being
Judges expect the public to be upright at all times.
Judges are seldom upright.
Judges only reluctantly confine those appearing before them to small spaces for select lengths of time.
Judges confine themselves to a small space most of the time.
Judges are intelligent and wise when sentencing others.
Judges are not fair or wise when sentencing themselves.
Judges should take a load off their minds and place a load on their bodies — the results will benefit family, friends, and fraternity. Liberate your full potential, mind and matter. Put the medical fraternity out of business.
“People have only as much liberty as they have the intelligence to want and the courage to take.” ― Emma Goldman.