MOVE it

In past posts I have warned about prolonged sitting. I discussed it more in the concept of travel, by car or plane. The concern is that sitting for long periods can promote the formation of blood clots in your veins that can travel to your lungs or elsewhere and cause you to have a stroke, possibly a fatal one. I am an active person, but still choose to get up at least once an hour and when I fly, I choose the aisle seat for that reason. That was all true months ago. I have also found that if I do my cardio exercise early in the morning, but spend most of the rest of the day doing office work, then I feel stiff and sluggish and in need of more cardio at the end of the day.

Now research separate from DVT studies is available to explain some of this. My body is telling me something and the something is that even active people need to be on their feet every hour or two or else they risk adverse health outcomes. I have no doubt that the science is valid. What I want to point out is that several state and national wellness campaigns have been telling us to get moving for years. Florida had the "How Many Steps Have You Taken Today?," campaign, but it is the NC one that I think said it better. Their slogan was, "Eat Smart Move More." That is what we ALL need to do, and according to research, we need to do the eating and the moving all through the day not at one or even two bursts, for exercise and not in three large meals, when it comes to eating, but five or six smaller ones.

The information offered in the AP article involved an analysis of several studies and included research from several countries including the UK, Canada and USA. The concern is that people who spend most of their days sitting, whether they exercise daily or not, are more likely to be obese, to have heart attacks and to die from any cause than people who do not spend long periods of time sitting. You may be wondering what "long" means. The experts studying the data haven't determined the exact threshold but absolutely less than four hours. Again, I say every hour. Stand up, stretch, take a few steps and a few deep breaths, because it also helps you mentally and you will be more productive.

I decided to see if NC still had their program going and they DO! The website looks awesome and has many tools that you can use to Eat Smart Move More and Weigh Less, if you need to that is !