January 3, 2022. A few days ago, I made a resolution to help you find the easiest Ways to feel better every day. Energetic, comfortable. Flexible. Balanced. Strong. Feeling like you can do anything you’d like to do whenever you’d like. You with me?
Today’s the first Moving Monday. We’ll do this once every month. A 1-minute exercise you can do at home or at work. One example of something you should do once every hour or two. So you don’t just sit there. Because just sitting there for more than an hour or two may be the worst thing you can do to your body. Press Play to see why. Happy New Year!
Every Thing Is Everything
From the study, “Role of Low Energy Expenditure and Sitting in Obesity”: “Exercise does not typically constitute the majority of activity energy expenditure even in regular exercisers. Nevertheless … the energy demand due to exercise (brisk walking at 4 mph for 60 min/day, 5 days/week) can be a significant supplement for boosting health … by stimulating multiple specific cellular signals uniquely activated by acute or chronic exercise.”
Translation: pacing and fidgeting help, but you still have to get some “real” exercise.
New Socks for the New Year
Really. Compression Socks. If this is new to you, you really should check these out at Vim&Vigr. They’re not a substitute for regular movement and exercise, but they can help reduce the bad effects of long travel days and jobs that require standing or sitting all day. These very stylish knee socks use a graduated compression technology designed to energize your legs and aid muscle recovery after exercise – and to reduce achiness and swelling from lack of exercise and movement.
“Deep venous thrombosis (DVT) is an example of how too much sitting, not just too little structured exercise, can induce medical problems. DVT is a serious and potentially life-threatening condition where blood clots develop in the veins deep within idle leg muscles. The problem has long been known to be caused by prolonged sitting, as in the air raid shelters in London during World War II, in the 1950s when people began taking extended automobile journeys and flying on airplanes, and even during excessive TV viewing or computer and video game use.” All quotes from the American Diabetes Association, “Role of Low Energy Expenditure and Sitting in Obesity”.
It’s Always Something
Let’s say you exercise for an hour a day. What are you doing the other 15 hours you’re awake?
Turns out this is more important than you might think. If you spend too many of those hours sitting, you’ll have significantly higher risk of “cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome risk factors, and obesity … because any type of brief, yet frequent, muscular contraction throughout the day may be necessary to short-circuit unhealthy molecular signals [from prolonged sitting] causing metabolic diseases.” American Diabetes Association, “Role of Low Energy Expenditure and Sitting in Obesity”.
Even if you exercise vigorously for an hour – five times a week – too much sitting still significantly increases your risk of all those things you exercise to avoid.