Don’t Just Sit There…Do Something!
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ake a moment to think about how much time each day you spend sitting. If you work at a desk, you’re probably sitting down for seven to eight hours per day. But, most likely, you do even more sitting than that—on your commute to and from work, on your lunch break, at dinnertime, and at home in front of the TV or at your computer. Even if you’re spending an hour at the gym each day, the amount of time you’re sitting down is usually much greater. A new study published in the British Medical Journal* suggests that if Americans were to sit for only three hours per day, our life expectancy would increase by two years! This study also indicates that, by limited our TV-watching to less than two hours per day, we’d extend our lives by another 1.4 years. In November 2011, the American Institute for Cancer Research determined that even cancer may be prevented by spending less time sitting. The reason is that physical activity seems to lower the levels of sex hormones in the body, thus reducing the risk of developing hormone-related cancers, like breast cancer. Even if you’re following the Centers for Disease Control’s recommendation of 150 minutes of exercise per week, you still may spend 15 hours or more per day sitting down—and that’s too much, says the American Cancer Society. While this doesn’t mean that you need to start lifting weights at your desk, you should try to incorporate more movement into your day. There are many simple ways to do this:
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n Stand up for a few moments every 30 minutes. n Instead of keeping a thermos of coffee or a large bottle of water at your desk, use a small cup. Get up and walk to the kitchen whenever you need a refill. You read the Lucille Roberts blog every day n Instead of emailing your coworker or and share it with your friends, and we want to reward you for it. sending an instant message, walk over By signing up to be a Lucille Roberts Cheerleader you can to her desk and talk to her. earn points every time you share our blog posts with your friends on n At times when you’re having trouble conFacebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Myspace. centrating, do some light stretching by your desk. You can even do squats! Try Want to earn more points? Sign your friends to do three sets of 10 squats on a break. up to be cheerleaders! The bigger the Getting the blood flowing in your body will squad, the louder the noise! bring more oxygen to your brain, which will also improve your concentration. n Skip the elevator and take the stairs CHEERLEADERS instead. at the end of August will win: n For more ideas, check out the workouts we have on the Lucille Roberts Blog (luciller1st prize: 24-inch Flat Screen TV oberts.com/blog). Pick out one or two moves 2nd prize: iPod Shuffle from the workouts featured there and try them 3rd prize: 6 months FREE out while you’re on break at work. Or start your day with a little at-home exercise in the morning.
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SOURCES: Gann, Carrie: “Key To Fighting Cancer is To Stay Active,” abcnews.go.com, november 3, 2011, and “Sitting Ourselves To Death?” news.yahoo.com, July 9, 2012.
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