“Sitting is the new smoking,” is how Kyle Pearce launches into his blog topic in on DIY Genius.
Nothing like a sensational opening right! Remember when all the hype for improved health included: losing weight, smoking cessation and far healthier eating habits? Well, they’ve added something else rather than giving the masses a break and letting us have one health contrary vice back. Well, they have allowed eggs back into the diet, suggesting that they are no longer the cholesterol shooting pistols they were perported to be back in the day.
I can honestly say that the medical researchers heading up this most recent taboo have my attention. I sit all day or at least 90% of my working day. The greater percent of my work life has ocurred at a desk, in front of a computer, and in a very sedentary fashion. What about my personal life? I’ve done the couch potato thing, the binge tv series watching thing and the nose in a book all day thing. Oh, and yes, I like to pretend I’m a writer. It would seem then that I’ve got a death wish considering the health hazards I so willingly embrace. The Washington post shares an extended list of health hazards and possible remedies.
So far, it has not been suggested that ALS is linked to the sedentary lifestyle, at least I don’t think it has. My father died from ALS and it occurs to me that I may some day find that I’ve inherited that health legacy as well as diabetes, heart problems and colon cancer, etc. I’m still sitting here with three out of four laser scopes pointed through my health profile at me, dead center and at critical organs. As the video above mentions sitting all day is linked to colon cancer, and heart problems and a few other unpleasant realities.
The obvious answer, of course, is to hit the gym after work or before work or at lunch, right? Or, I could stop sitting all day to earn a living and find something that requires more physical effort, right? Well, hitting the gym won’t necessarily resolve the damage done as you sit continuously (and snack?) all day, at least Breaking Muscle dot com doesn’t believe so. The prospects for working in a job requiring a greater amount of physical activity are few considering my professional background and income requirements. This is also equally true for a large percentage of the population.
One of the more creative solutions to the dilemma mentioned above is offered in a Huffington Post article touting walking meetings. Another almost equally creative is Time the suggestion that fidgeting may may provide an option to reverse the health ramifications of sitting all day. Standing while talking on the phone, using stairs between floors, stretching multiple times a day while at your desk and walking to someones desk to speak with them rather than talking over the divider are a few suggestions. Use smaller cups for beverages so you have to get up to refill them more often.
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