Listen up all you couch potatoes. It’s time to get off that couch and start moving. Your health may depend on it.
Too much sitting is linked to heart disease, diabetes, and early death from all causes. That’s right, the World Health Organization puts sitting or physical inactivity 4th on the list of risk factors for death worldwide. Death is a good motivator for me.
Honestly I don’t have time to exercise like I used to, but if I am going to stay healthy, I have to find a way. Studies confirm this. More Americans are eating less, but are still overweight. A sitting and sedentary lifestyle have much to do with this.
While sitting isn’t good for either gender, women fare worse when it comes to spending the day in a chair. According to a study by the American Cancer Institute, women who sat for more than six hours a day were more likely to die than women who sat for three hours or less a day.
So if you are like me and have a job that requires more than six hours sitting at a desk, here are 10 tips to help avoid those dismal statistics:
• Stand whenever possible—during meetings, while on the phone, take the stairs, etc. Standing or moving triggers the body to break down fats and sugars.
• Put your computer on a higher desk that allows you to stand part of the day and work.
• If your company can get a treadmill, put one in a break room and get on it for 10 minutes at a time.
• Take an exercise class, although exercising a few times a week doesn’t seem to undo all the sitting problems.
• Walk around your office space a few times a day.
• Have meetings while walking.
• Work through lunch, leave early and work out if your boss will allow it.
• Set a timer and make yourself get up and walk around.
• Buy a pedometer and track your step.
• Order a stand-up desk or treadmill desk station—they are pricey, but if your company will do it, it is worth it.
So join me America. Not only do we have to pay attention to what we eat, but we have to ramp up the physical activity. Our health depends on it!
