My kind of exercise: non-exercise
I'm good at clipping exercise articles—not so good at exercising. Over the years I've collected articles giving me lots of reasons to exercise:
The article describes NEAT: non-exercise activity thermogenesis, or any movement not made just for the sake of exercise. So what else is new? I've been parking away from entrances and taking stairs instead elevators for years.
What I found new here is confirmation that we have an uphill battle because of the way most of us live these days. We sit to eat, to drive, to work (at computers), and to relax (watch TV, read, do sudoku). Most of us get up from one seat to move to another. James Levine, an endocrinologist and professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic, took couch potatoes and overfed them by 1,000 calories a day for eight weeks. He put them in "magical underwear" (his term) that monitored every movement they made and whether they were standing, sitting, or lying down. The group contained both lean and obese people.
He found that lean people can somehow turn on their NEAT when they're overfed, and the ones who can't turn it on gain ten times more fat than the others. That would explain the difference between Phil and me!
The study found that obese people move two and a half hours less per day than lean people; they burn roughly 350 fewer calories a day. The article says, "People with obesity respond more to the chair-based environment. People who are lean have a greater propensity for finding those opportunities to move around, as their bodies are designed to do." Levine says the ones who burn more calories do it primarily by being on their feet and moving during their daily activities.
To cut to the chase, Levine says anything is better than sitting. He urges people to use any reason to get out of their chairs—cook a real dinner instead of putting something in the microwave, go out pull weeds, walk down the hall instead of sending e-mail, walk while reading, and stand up to answer the phone.
Levine doesn't have any chairs in his office. He makes phone calls from a treadmill and conducts two-person meetings while walking around. He implies we'd get more exercise if our chairs weren't so comfortable—we all wiggle and get restless on hard folding chairs! He's working on a project now to put walking workstations into office spaces.
I've been spending most of my days at my computer and most of my evenings relaxing in a comfortable chair, and that's worrisome. Since reading the article I've been making an effort to stand up and move around more often. When I need to do something in another room, I get up and do it when I think of it rather than waiting until I have several other things to do and doing them all at once. My biggest challenge is being active while doing everything I do on the computer. I think Levine has a computer set up so he can stand while using it; I don't. I'm not sure that would work anyway, because my legs and back start hurting if I have to stand in one place for very long. I do know that I don't have any problem being on my feet all day if I am moving a lot because I didn't have any problem when I worked at a nursery. (I love the idea of being paid to get exercise . . . )
I'm sitting here typing about being more active, which probably burns up a few more calories than reading about it but not many. It's time to get up and do something—anything that's not done in a chair.
- Lose weight
- Gain strength
- Look better
- Reduce dangerous intra-abdominal/visceral fat
- Lower blood pressure
- Reduce risk of heart disease
- Regulate/lower blood sugar
- Lower risk of osteoporosis and fractures
- Gain confidence/self-esteem/empowerment
- Fight depression
- Shield body from effects of stress
- Sleep better
- Reduce pain
- Heal faster
- Lower risk of cognitive decline and dementia
- Improve balance
- Gain energy
- Prevent glaucoma
- Last but not least, improve sex life
The article describes NEAT: non-exercise activity thermogenesis, or any movement not made just for the sake of exercise. So what else is new? I've been parking away from entrances and taking stairs instead elevators for years.
What I found new here is confirmation that we have an uphill battle because of the way most of us live these days. We sit to eat, to drive, to work (at computers), and to relax (watch TV, read, do sudoku). Most of us get up from one seat to move to another. James Levine, an endocrinologist and professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic, took couch potatoes and overfed them by 1,000 calories a day for eight weeks. He put them in "magical underwear" (his term) that monitored every movement they made and whether they were standing, sitting, or lying down. The group contained both lean and obese people.
He found that lean people can somehow turn on their NEAT when they're overfed, and the ones who can't turn it on gain ten times more fat than the others. That would explain the difference between Phil and me!
The study found that obese people move two and a half hours less per day than lean people; they burn roughly 350 fewer calories a day. The article says, "People with obesity respond more to the chair-based environment. People who are lean have a greater propensity for finding those opportunities to move around, as their bodies are designed to do." Levine says the ones who burn more calories do it primarily by being on their feet and moving during their daily activities.
To cut to the chase, Levine says anything is better than sitting. He urges people to use any reason to get out of their chairs—cook a real dinner instead of putting something in the microwave, go out pull weeds, walk down the hall instead of sending e-mail, walk while reading, and stand up to answer the phone.
Levine doesn't have any chairs in his office. He makes phone calls from a treadmill and conducts two-person meetings while walking around. He implies we'd get more exercise if our chairs weren't so comfortable—we all wiggle and get restless on hard folding chairs! He's working on a project now to put walking workstations into office spaces.
I've been spending most of my days at my computer and most of my evenings relaxing in a comfortable chair, and that's worrisome. Since reading the article I've been making an effort to stand up and move around more often. When I need to do something in another room, I get up and do it when I think of it rather than waiting until I have several other things to do and doing them all at once. My biggest challenge is being active while doing everything I do on the computer. I think Levine has a computer set up so he can stand while using it; I don't. I'm not sure that would work anyway, because my legs and back start hurting if I have to stand in one place for very long. I do know that I don't have any problem being on my feet all day if I am moving a lot because I didn't have any problem when I worked at a nursery. (I love the idea of being paid to get exercise . . . )
I'm sitting here typing about being more active, which probably burns up a few more calories than reading about it but not many. It's time to get up and do something—anything that's not done in a chair.
I'll have you know your timing is uncanny. Yesterday I wore a pair of shoes that made my coming and going from the office quite audible. (I usually wear soft-soled shoes that allow more stealth than that.) It caused Lynette, a neighboring office occupant, to comment that I sounded like Karen, the woman who formerly occupied my office. My reply was that Karen walked much faster. Karen was a small, compact woman with lots of energy. Lynette and I surmised that part of why Karen was so thin and energetic was that she was constantly on the move. She walked up and down the hallway all the time. She walked down the hall first, tried the phone later. She walked documents up the steep hill to the admin building rather than sending a student to do it. You get the idea. So after that conversation, I read your blog. I'm now inspired. I never find the time for a "big" exercise regime, although I did manage to walk 45 minutes at lunch yesterday. But surely I can find the time for constant little opportunities. When I walked in from the car this morning, I reminded myself it was the opportunity to exercise. I walked more briskly. When I came to stairs, I purposely lifted my steps higher than I needed to. I have walked down the hallway four times so far rather than calling, or bunching my tasks. So don't tell my employer -- I'm using more of my work time to exercise and less to be efficient -- but I suspect I'll be more energized and efficient in the long haul if I can keep it up!
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Good for you! I'm trying . . .
Thanks for commenting. These are good ideas. Maybe we'll get more!
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