So you eat right, do lots of exercises to stay in shape and participate in crazy obstacle courses like Tough Mudder and Spartan Race.
Naturally, you expect to live longer than someone who isn’t healthy, right?
Well, you can throw all of that out the window if you are a weekend warrior but during the week, you are a 9-5 desk jockey, sitting on your butt all day long.
There has been many studies related to sedentary lifestyle and negative health consequences, but the latest one caught our attention.
Study
According to a study by Ann Grunseit, PhD, from the Prevention Research Collaboration Department from the University of Sydney, Australia, it concluded that with everything being equal, “…sedentary workers were associated with higher all-cause mortality and cardio vascular and/or metabolic disease mortality” when compared with people working in a job that required much physical activities, such as walking, lifting or heavy physical labor.
In other words, “holding all else equal, someone with an occupation that involved walking and lifting had a 27% lower chance of dying than someone who mostly sat in their occupation among those in the obese category”.
Saving Yourself
So what are some quick ways to neutralize that negative tendencies in your case? How do you force yourself to get off from that comfy office chair?
Well, we have some simple ideas but effective ideas:
- Drinking 5-6 cups (8 fl oz.) of water throughout the day has numerous side benefits:
- Drinking FORCES you to make frequent bathroom trips, thereby getting you off that office chair (certainly better than those 10 minute walks to outside for a cigarette break, doesn’t it?);
- Resulting clear urine indicates that your kidneys and liver are efficiently getting rid of impurities;
- A six-year study published in the May 1, 2002 American Journal of Epidemiology found that those who drink more than 5 glasses of water a day were 41% less likely to die from a heart attack during the study period than those who drank less than two glasses;
- Dehydration causes headaches and dry skin – consume enough water and your fatigue, muscle weakness/cramps and dizziness go way
- Do lots of stretching exercises throughout the day::
- Start with upper body, concentrating first on large muscles like chest, upper- and lower back, and trapezoids;
- Then move onto the smaller muscle groups like the arms and neck;
- Finally, stretch your leg muscles like quadriceps, hamstring and calves;
- One thing to keep in mind is that these are cold stretches (without the benefit of warming up first with light jogging or walking so do NOT over-stretch (For more info on different types of stretching, click here (http://www.cmcrossroads.com/bradapp/docs/rec/stretching/stretching_4.html#SEC34) ;
- For some stretching move recommendations, click here for some ideas (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stretching/WL00030)
- Do mini exercises involving squats, “good-morning” exercise, and 1/4 pushups using an office desk:
- Squats – Get into the proper squatting form by raising your arms to your shoulder level (as if you are holding a bar across your back) with feet slightly wider than your shoulder width, and straight lower back. Purposely lower your body until your upper legs are approximately parallel to the ground, hold then come back up. Absolutely no bouncing or touch your butto to your calves to minimize knee hyper extension. Do 2 set of 10 squats, three times a day.
- “Good-morning” extensions – This is one of our favorite exercises to strengthen our lower back. It is akin to an Asian bowing motion. First, open your hands and cross lock your fingers then place your hands behind your head. While keeping your lower back straight, bend over 90 degrees, making sure to arch your back and keep your knees in a locked position. Do a set of 20 reps, three times a day. We DO NOT recommend using any weights for this exercise.
- 1/4 pushups – we like to do ¼ pushups because quite frankly, the office floor is anything but clean. If you are wearing a tie or a dress, dropping down and doing a 20 in a cubicle setting might not be the best. Since we are just looking to get some light exercises done, doing a ¼ pushups is more than adequate. Do 2 set of 20, three times a day.
Conclusion
Combined with frequent stretching and light exercises, you can keep that Grim Reaper away so that you can enjoy your weekend obstacle course competitions.
Remember, consistently doing small things will add up to some big health benefits for you and your family.
Resources
- 9 Great Reasons to Drink Water, and How to Form the Water Habit – http://www.dumblittleman.com/2007/07/9-great-reasons-to-drink-water-and-how.html
- Five Myths About Drinking Water – http://www.npr.org/2008/04/03/89323934/five-myths-about-drinking-water
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