CREATING MORE BALANCE EVERY DAY

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Lynda Pedley MBA, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.

Sitting still at the extent we do today has a documented negative effect on everything from back pain to taking us to an early grave. The more we sit, the worse our health gets. Diabetes, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, waist measurement, BMI, Cardio vascular disease, the list is long of the complications caused by the so-called sitting disease.

In a study of 123,000 people presented at the annual conference of the American Institute for Cancer Research, researchers found that the more time people spent sitting, the higher their risk of dying early. “Even among individuals who were regularly active, the risk of dying prematurely was higher among those who spent more time sitting”.

There are lots of things that you can do to offset the debilitating effects of too much sitting. Here are some easy to do ideas that you can do anywhere, anytime. And note that Standing uses more muscles and burns more calories than sitting. So, train yourself to:

At work:
• Stand whenever you talk on the telephone.
• Pace during staff meetings, if your boss will allow it.
• Ask friends to go for a walk during lunch instead of chatting in the break room.
• Use the stairs instead of the elevator.
• Start having walk-and-talk meetings with your co-workers, rather than conference room meetings.
• Move trash cans out of cubicles to make people walk to throw out garbage.
• Use the washroom on a different floor from your office.
• Relocate water coolers by windows, where people will want to congregate.
• Telecommute from a park on a sunny day
• Walk around outside while participating in a conference call.
• Take a brisk, 15-minute walk in the afternoon, you’ll be far more productive in your last two hours. If you’re worried that you don’t have time for a walk, you may be surprised.
• Take a bus or train to work, you can stand, clench, and relax your muscles or get off a stop early and walk several blocks.
• If mass transit isn’t an option, find a distant parking spot so you walk for a few minutes before and after work.

• The furthest parking space isn’t all bad – if you end up on the furthest side of the car park, or even a couple of blocks away, the walk to and from the car will do you good! Get off the bus a stop early.
• Try ditching the TV remote – if only for a couple of evenings a week. If you have a cordless phone, make calls while wandering around the house or garden – every step counts.
• Carry your groceries home – carrying a few light bags is great for your arms.
• Take up an active hobby like…. A walk in the park; Bicycling; Swimming; Dancing; Bowling; snowshoeing; dog walking etc.
• Do household chores, such as folding clothes, washing dishes or ironing, while watching television.
• Do stretching or strength training exercises while while watching television or reading the newspaper.
• Wash your car by hand rather than using a drive through car wash.
• Move around the house when checking text messages and email on your mobile phone.

There are lots of ways to burn calories without joining a gym. The thought you should have in the back of your mind during your day is “I shouldn’t sit to do this”. If in some way you can stand or move to do the task you have to do, take the standing alternative, you’ll feel better longer.

For more information to find out if sitting disease is killing you, check out: www.sitting-disease.com