Sitting Kills - Get Up & Move
Sitting Will Kill You
Like most work-from-homers, I sit in front of the computer screen for long hours. Unphased by my hunchback posture and complete lack of movement, I would arise for my lunch break with an achy back and tight muscles. Who wants to go outside for a walk after that?
After a few months of consistently being alerted by my Garmin watch that my movement was severely lacking, I decided to change. Keep in mind I live an active lifestyle, but my daily workouts were not meeting my overall movement goals. Yes, I had to get in more steps throughout the day but what I needed most was to move my body! Sitting in a chair for long periods at a time is one of the most dangerous habits we can do for our overall health. Sitting all day can kill you.
Dr. Keith Diaz, a certified exercise physiologist and the Florence Irving Associate Professor of Behavioral Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, and his colleagues conducted a study with volunteers to emulate a typical 8-hour work day in their lab. The findings should be a wake-up call to most Americans(including me) who sit at a desk for the majority of their workday.
Dr. Keith Diaz and his team discovered the following;
A 5-minute walk every half hour can offset the dangers of sitting all day.
A sedentary lifestyle, meaning sitting at a desk all day, proceeded by a binge fest of Netflix the remainder of the day increases your chance of diabetes, dementia, death, and heart disease by 70%.
Lack of movement will affect blood sugar regulation.
I Stepped It Up
I work out daily but my overall movement was not enough for Garmin’s standards and sure as heck shouldn’t be by my standards either. Moving shouldn’t just be about being in shape, endurance, etc. Movement should encompass your entire body. Not adding consistent movement throughout your day can be damaging to your mental and physical health.
I received the latest trend of treadmills, the under-desk treadmill as a Christmas gift. They have several options on Amazon. For the past month, I have been using it daily and it has already been a game-changer! My mood has dramatically improved too!
I plan to keep it moving in hopes of improving my overall health.
