Be forewarned, I’m cheating today – there’s been a lot on my plate lately, and although it may seem like an excuse, I haven’t much thought about getting on here. So, I’m going to let you read someone else’s blog entry and ask you to do a little self-reflection (read: you have to do the work ;)).
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/17/get-up-get-out-dont-sit/?smid=fb-share
The author has summarized two different scientific studies which have once again highligthed the ill-effects of a sedentary existence. I have written about this before, but the data produced by the authors is even more frightening. Look at the following stats:
“Every single hour of television watched after the age of 25 reduces the viewer’s life expectancy by 21.8 minutes” (the author also points out that smoking a cigarette is less toxic and reduces one’s lifespan by 11 minutes – yikes!!)
Or another way to quantify these effects is:
– “…an adult who spends an average of six hours a day watching TV over the course of a lifetime can expect to live 4.8 years fewer than a person who does not watch TV”
The authors of the study point out that it isn’t the TV watching in itself that is harmful, but the action of doing absolutely nothing for hours on end but holding down your chair and changing channels with your thumb (don’t trick yourself, that second part cannot be defined as exercise).
The second study outlined in the blog entry looked at people who are sedentary all day long in relation to the development of specific disease states. This study found that those who move the least were faced with:
– 112 percent increased risk of developing diabetes
– 147 percent increased risk for cardiovascular disease
– 49 percent greater risk of dying prematurely
And what is even more frightening, these facts held even when people exercised regularly. This replicates the evidence found in the study I wrote about in this blog post, http://inspiringhealth.ca/wp/?p=74, which is we need to move all day, even for a couple of minutes an hour.
So have a look at your day & how much time you spend on your tush. Where can you make changes? It’s easy, you just have to be open to opportunities! Get to be that person who others ask, “Taking the long way again?” and be proud to say “Yup!”