As a generation and society, one of the major floors in our lives is that we spend a ridiculous amount of time sitting. We are, as a culture, Lazy. It is well known and documented that obesity & heart disease are on the rise. It is also well known that inactivity and sitting are not helping! In addition, sitting for hours upon end can lead to many chronic injuries and ailments. Inactive gluten, back pain and anterior pelvic tilt to name a few. However, research has show that we can combat the hours spent sitting, with only a small amount of exercise.
If You’re Sitting, You May As Well Be Smoking
A ridiculous thing to say? Possibly not! It has been suggested that sitting for >8 h/day without any additional physical activity really is that bad. The effects on your risk of death are similar to those of both smoking and obesity.
Are you literally sitting yourself into an early grave? Take a minute to think about your average day. I am a Mobile Personal Trainer in Richmond and South West London. My day must be filled with activity, however, remove my own training and it’s not such a pretty sight. Yes, I am active and standing whilst coaching. But in between I may spend 3 hours or more in cars and trains, 2 hours sitting to write these blogs and another 2-3 programming for clients. I am already approaching and surpassing those 8 hours of sitting!
Fight Back With Physical Activity
I’m going to get straight to the point here. I’m even going to put it in quotation marks and make it BIG.
“60-75 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per day, seems to eliminate the increased risk of death associated with total sitting time”
8 hours of inactivity eliminated by 1 hour of activity! Going back to the example of my day to day routine. I am moving during my coaching session, lets say I coach 4-6 clients. I’m probably don’t get over light activity, so I will half the time. I have still racked up 2-3 hours of activity, which eliminates a massive 16+ hours of sitting!
Now add on time in the gym and suddenly it is a much prettier picture.
Move More.
Not keen on an hour a day in the gym? Keep it simple. Every hour, get up and move, break the cycle. In addition, do 20-30 minutes moderate activity in the evening PLUS a 10-15 minute walk at some point throughout your day. Try these if you can’t think where to fit it in.
- Get of the tube 1 station earlier & walk 10 minutes
- Walk to the shops with your partner and share the load on the way back
- Grab a coffee to go with a friend and take a stroll instead of sitting
Keep it simple and move more. I’m just going to say it 1 more time.
8 hours of inactivity eliminated by 1 hour of activity!
For the full research, visit Yann Le Muer.