How many hours a day do you spend sitting? Think about it; you sit to eat breakfast, sit in the car, sit at your desk, sit on facebook, sit to watch TV, sit to read and sit to do school work. The smarty pants researchers (who probably sit a lot), estimate that we sit about 64 hours a week and spend only 39 hours standing or walking. This type of sedentary lifestyle is putting us at risk for some scary health problems. Now, here’s the clincher. You may be thinking to yourself, “this doesn’t apply to me because I exercise regularly,” but studies show that if the majority of your day is spent sitting (even if you exercise regularly), you’re still at risk. Like smoking, even if you’re doing all the right things, sitting (in and of itself) is a risk factor.
If you don’t move it, you lose it! Our bodies are made to move, not to sit for hours on end. When you sit for a prolonged period of time, you’ll burn less fat (metabolism slows), have increased inflammation, problems with circulation, less muscle tone, and a decrease in those feel-good brain chemicals that are released when you move around. This means more pounds, more cancer (more than 10 years in a sedentary job increases your cancer risk by 44%), more depression, more cardiovascular issues, more problems with blood sugar, and more back pain. Okay, so here’s what I want you to do about it:
1. Stand to work: Do you really have to sit to get your work done? Find a way to stand while working at your computer, reading and writing. Standing desks are a fabulous new way to avoid prolonged inactivity.
2. Take microbreaks: Squats, lunges, jumping jacks, planks, and butt kicks are perfect. Every 15-20 minutes, take a short break from the chair and move around.
3. Walk it out: Park your car far from an entrance, take walks during your lunch break, go for an after-dinner stroll. Wear a pedometer and shoot for 10, 000 steps a day.
4. Turn TV time into move-it time: If you tend to veg out on your coach to watch the tube, make it a goal to get in extra steps, extra crunches, extra lunges, extra burpees or whatever.
5. Workout: Steps one to four are fabulous, but probably not enough! Make it a goal to get an hour of concerted physical activity every day.
It’s time to quit sitting; you can do it. Change Your Habits, Change Your Life!