Filed under: Walking
Too much sitting during the day is linked to multiple illnesses, including heart disease, diabetes, and even some cancers. And sitting has become an all-too-common activity in the modern workplace. One remedy to the problem is the use of standing desks. However, even standing isn’t enough to keep you at your healthiest. Another important weapon against sitting disease is movement. By adding just 2 minutes of walking every hour, you can increase blood flow to your heart and other muscles. These short bursts of movement “wake the body up” and keep important systems working. If it helps, set a timer on your phone or computer to remind you to walk around at least once every hour. This doesn’t replace the recommendations for getting regular exercise, but it will help keep you active and healthy! Get moving!
You’ve heard it all before: You need to get at least 30 minutes of moderate to intense exercise each day to help prevent chronic disease and improve your health. But what do you do for the other 23½ hours? If the answer is sitting (or sleeping), then you might have what is known as “sitting disease.”
It sounds like a joke. Unfortunately, it’s not. If your typical day is spent sitting at a desk, sitting while commuting, sitting down for dinner and TV afterwards, and then going to bed, you’re putting yourself at a greater risk for chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and even cancer. Studies consistently show that the more time you spend sitting or lying down, the greater your risk for chronic disease and early death. The simple act of standing up has even more physiological benefits when compared to sitting. The “active couch potato” phenomenon shows that even people who are relatively fit and meet the minimum requirements for daily exercise still exhibit risk factors for metabolic syndrome and other chronic diseases as sitting time increases. Sure, you might take the dog out for his morning walk, or maybe you even did PT before work; but the truth is that the more time you spend sitting the rest of the day, the greater the risk for disease.
You can see from the infographic below (from the American Institute for Cancer Research) that even those who engage in moderate amounts of exercise and physical activity are still at risk for cancer if 12 or more hours in the rest of their day is spent seated or lying down. The risk gets lower as people move more and sit less during the day.
Time is often a major reason that people say they don’t get enough exercise or physical activity during their day. It’s true that work can get busy, but it might just take a little creativity to turn it into a productive work AND physically active day. Here are some tips to help get you up and out of your fancy ergonomic chair.
- Bike or walk to work if possible.
- Take the stairs instead of the elevator (or at least partway if you work on a high-up floor).
- Turn your meeting into a walking meeting.
- Walk down the hall to give someone a message rather than email or call them.
- Stand up while talking on the phone.
- Don’t eat lunch at your desk; walk to the cafeteria or a nearby park, even if you packed your lunch.
- Find out if you can get a standing or walking desk at work.
- Buy a pedometer to track how many steps you take per day.
Doing what you can to increase the amount of time you spend standing, exercising and being physically active will improve your chances of a longer and healthier life,
Hiking is a great form of exercise and a great way to get outdoors and enjoy some scenery—especially when getting ready for deployment to challenging terrain. If the weather outside is less than ideal, however, or the winter temperatures become too frigid, you may need to move your hiking indoors to a treadmill. Keep in mind that you might not be working as hard on a treadmill as you would be hiking outside at your regular pace. Hiking requires different, often heavier footwear and involves a more diverse, varied terrain, both of which require more energy than walking in sneakers on a treadmill. If you want the same benefits, your treadmill needs to be set to at least a 3% incline for any speed up to 3.1 miles per hour to be comparable to what you expend hiking outside. You can still train for that mountain trek in bad weather—you’ll just need to make some slight adjustments. Happy trails…or treadmilling!
Individuals who have incorporated the recommendation of 10,000 steps a day into their lives have seen positive changes in their health, including weight loss, lower blood pressure, decreased risk for diabetes, lower cholesterol, and better psychological health. Many organizations, including the American Heart Association, recommend walking 10,000 steps—or approximately five miles—a day for optimal health. Having a goal of 10,000 steps will get you, your family, and friends moving more every day, which reduces health risks.
A pedometer is an easy way to start counting your steps! Turn it into a fun, inexpensive challenge for your family or colleagues—see who can get the most steps in a day or week. It might be harder than you think. Here are some tips from the American Heart Association to help you get to 10,000.
If you exercise regularly—or plan to start an exercise program—chances are you’ll experience shin splits at least once. That sharp, achy, sore, and/or throbbing feeling that runs down the front of your shin, also known as “tibial stress syndrome,” is a common condition among athletes, especially runners. The pain of shin splits can come from any number of underlying causes, such as overuse injuries, “flat feet,” or a more serious injury—stress fractures—usually from excessive and/or repetitive force on your legs. Usually shin splits will heal on their own with rest and basic self-care treatments, but it’s important to recognize the symptoms early on and to give yourself time to fully heal before easing back into your usual workout. See a doctor if the pain does not seem to improve with rest, if your shin is hot and inflamed, or if the swelling gets worse. To prevent shin splits, make sure that you wear the appropriate shoes for your type of foot, warm up before working out, vary the types of surfaces you run on, and address symptoms of pain early.
If you have ever bought a pair of toning shoes, you probably noticed you haven’t developed a Kardashian-curved derrière or a Brook Burke body just from walking around in them. You’re not alone. Recent developments have brought toning shoes back into the spotlight for the media and scientific communities. An independent study by the American Council on Exercise found that these kinds of toning shoes do not increase muscle activation or caloric expenditure compared to regular athletic shoes. However, a positive outcome may be that these shoes have motivated people to get out and walk, a physical activity that has many health benefits—without special shoes! Caveat emptor!