In the world of fitness and health, there is a lot of talk about the need to remain physically active. So you might think that as long as you’re getting in half an hour of exercise everyday, physical activity levels are being met.
Not so fast. There may be more to it than this. In fact, a new study looks at women in particular and finds that despite exercising; too much sitting doesn’t reduce the risk of certain health conditions. In other words, you are no better off in lowering the chance of diabetes, premature death, obesity and cardiovascular diseases.
Well that’s pretty disappointing isn’t it? So why bother exercising if you aren’t going to be any healthier, right?
The key is to consider those moments in your day when you aren’t exercising. Can you incorporate small spurts of activity?
If you have a desk job, as I do, you can literally spend hours every single day sitting. That’s not good for you.
You need to take advantage of opportunities to get active. For instance, take a walk at lunch. Skip the elevator and take the stairs.
I work at home. So some of the ways in which I try to break up parts of my day with activity is taking a 15 minute walk on my treadmill about an hour after I have eaten lunch.
I also go up and down my stairs quite a bit. Checking for mail, doing laundry, using the bathroom are all reasons for me to get out of the basement and use the stairs.
Small bits of activity can add up and make a significant different. Perhaps you work somewhere that it would be okay to get up and do a few jumping jacks or jog in place.
Exercise is good for you. But it apparently won’t improve your health if you still spend large portions of your day sitting around. Get up and get moving.