After 2 long car rides (hours) this week for business travel, I’m reminded about the negative effects of sitting.
A couple of years back, I read a book called Get Up! by James Levine, MD (2014). It’s all about the importance of, well, getting up, a.k.a. not sitting.
Now, I realize that, for some of us, and from a health perspective, standing for any length of time just isn’t possible.
However, for many of us, sitting is just something we do. But sitting is really not good for our health.
The photo below (from the book) is just the first half of the alphabet's worth of the harmful effects of sitting, and it’s truly scary!
When we start spending lots of time sitting, whether for work or otherwise, our brains encourage us to stay sitting.
It's a vicious cycle, the more we sit, the more our brain accepts that we're sitting, sending out fewer messages for the muscles to move, and so we continue to sit, and our muscles begin to lose strength and so on.
To break that cycle, we need to get up out of our chairs and start moving.
How often do you sit during the day?
What would happen if you sat less?
What would you do with that time? If your job involves sitting for extended periods of time, how could you change that?
Could you get up and walk around periodically?
What about a stand-up desk, or better yet, a treadmill desk?
If you enjoy watching TV, what if you got up and walked around during commercials?
What else could you do this week to sit less?
Here’s to a week of health and less sitting!
Make it a great week!
Warm Regards,
Laura
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