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Healthy Wait: Beating the Dark Side of Long Lines in Galaxy’s Edge

By Sara Butler

Star Wars, Disneyland and Lines

The average American spends two years of their lives waiting in line. Now that Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland has opened, and it’s soon to open in Walt Disney World, I think we can all expect for that average to go up across the board.

Waiting is the worst, but it’s something you can’t avoid in life. And your patience and tolerance can only take you so far. What you need is a strategy to help you stay healthy -- and to make it just a little bit more fun, especially if you plan on trying to ride the Millennium Falcon in Galaxy’s Edge any time in the next five years. Here are a few tips that will help you from calling everyone in line around you a stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder.

Use a Jedi Mind Trick

OK, maybe not trick yourself, but distract yourself. You’ve always got your smartphone, that’s true, but why not try something new? You know you’re going to be waiting, so maybe you can play a fun Star Wars trivia game with your friends and family as you wait or bring a book to read? You know you’ve been trying to make time to read James Patterson’s 450th novel -- and there’s no time like the present. Once the land is open to everyone, that wait time is going to feel like you’re being slowly digested in the belly of a sarlacc. And that only takes a few thousand years, so occupy yourself.

Use the Force

Remember what Master Yoda says, “Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering for you and those around you as in line you wait.” He didn’t say that last part, but if he knew how long lines were going to be to board Smuggler’s Run, he probably would have said something just like that.

Waiting in line can cause stress and stress makes you feel icky. Try to let go of some of that stress by practicing a simple breathing exercise. The National Institutes of Health suggest that you inhale through your nose to the count of four, then hold for the count of one, and exhale to the count of five. Can you feel the force flowing through you? Don’t give in to the power of the Dark Side!

You Are Your Spine’s Only Hope

Prolonged standing is not exactly a spine-friendly activity. In fact, it’s so not good for you that the American Chiropractic Association suggests changing your stance and shifting your weight about every three to five minutes. That’s least 36 times in a three-hour line. How can you do this? Easy.

  • Stretch - Do some hamstring stretches, quad stretches, and shoulder rolls. They’ll help you feel good and relieve some tension and stress you feel since you’d probably rather be going to Tosche Station to pick up some power converters.
  • Calf raises - All you have to do is stand up straight and flex those abdominal muscles as you raise your heels off the ground to balance on your toes. If you do it just right, you might be able to spy the front -- or back -- of the line.
  • Squats – If you’re feeling squirrely, try some squats. Dare your pals to hold a squat and see who can do it longer. The loser has to be the engineer on Smuggler’s Run -- the lamest job in the cockpit.

If you’re heading to Disneyland this summer or Disney World at the end of August to become an inhabitant at the Black Spire Outpost, then may the force be with you. You’ll run into long lines in a sea of sweaty humanity, but it’ll all be worth it for a chance to pilot the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs!

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