Hunter gatherers had it good. Our bodies were designed to move and they had to move or they would eventually either run out of food or become food for some hungry beast. The brain's functioning and the body's musculature evolved in motion, not in front of a TV or computer screen. This created a brain which functions best when the body is moving and a body that stays healthy doing the same.
Evolutionary changes happen very slowly. We are more similar to homo erectus than different save the number of brain neurons we have and the size of our brains. Okay we're a heck of a lot better looking too. Our brains are larger. In 2 million years, processing capabilities have developed but much of our physiology has stayed the same. Enter the sciences of epigenetics and nutra-genomics which prove that our daily habits cause genes to turn on and off which determines the health or ill health of the human. Gene expression and introducing new genes, ones that encourage sitting as a healthy pastime, are not in the picture. Sadly, sitting allows for unhealthy gene expression it does not change the body's need to move in order to be healthy.
There's a new field of science in town that studies the sedentary lifestyle problem and Dr. Levine at the Mayo Clinic is the expert.
His main focus is how much people move and don't move. In a two-month long study participants lived in his lab and all food and movement was closely monitored. They were told not to exercise. He slowly increased the amount of daily calories and as expected, some gained weight and some did not. Since her knew that would happen he added a twist to his testing. Because of something called his "magic underwear" he found one reason why some packed on the pounds and some did not. The garment looked like bicycle shorts and had electrodes attached to various muscles. They reported muscle activity to a computer. The people who did not gain weight but could not exercise more to relieve the body of the extra energy on board, simply moved more. They tapped their feet, they walked more quickly to a meeting, or they took the stairs. According to James Vlahos, writing for the New York Times online, "On average, the subjects who gained weight sat two hours more per day than those who hadn't."
Weight loss is one thing. What are the other reasons to sit less? What does sitting do to the body?
In February of this year Dr. Robert Glatter, reported the following in the Huffington Post on why sitting is so damaging.
"Prolonged sitting can be harmful to your health because of the lack of muscle contractions and subsequent body movement. Muscle contractions help to stimulate blood flow and remove toxins from the body via the lymphatic system, a complex filtering system in our bodies. Muscle contractions are important to help clear fat (triglycerides) and glucose from our bloodstream. Animal studies have suggested that animals at rest for prolonged periods of time show decreased ability to break down fat as a result of decreased enzymatic activity of certain lipases." Now if that won't get us off our collectively expanding butts I don't know what will.
Chances are it won't though. We hear alarming statistics all the time but we are rarely moved to change until we feel the effects of something.
Most of us can't stand all day, have walking meetings, and don't want to give up our TV or reading in the evenings. What can be done to help offset this silent killer?
· Get a wireless headset so you can move around while on the phone.
· A treadmill desk is an expensive and bulky solution for most home offices but any counter can work if you elevate the keyboard or laptop so you aren't leaning forward putting pressure on your neck.
· Set an alarm on your computer to go off every hour. Stand up, move around, wave your arms, go to the rest room, bounce, put on music and dance or simply sway.
· Buy a mini cycle you can use while sitting at your desk or while reading email or surfing the net
· Sit on a chair ball. You must move to stay stable and might burn a few calories.
· Meet friends for a walk now and then instead of heading straight for the restaurant or bar. Hold meetings while walking the halls or your neighborhood.
· When attending events where days with your butt in a seat can be long, feel free to move to the side of the room or the back and take a standing break.
· Make the most of your leisure time. One study showed that some people who sit 8 hours per day for work also sit more than move on their days off.
This change in thinking and moving may not feel comfortable at first. It could be down right annoying to get up and move about throughout the day or feel strange asking people to walk while talking about a joint venture or your next book. I don't think it will be long before this trend catches on. And as with every improvement we want to make for our health, start small. Add in a couple of 5 or 10-minute movement breaks per day. Awareness will go a long way to encouraging you to take these suggestions to heart and a picture does what all of my words will not. If you haven't seen the "sitting is the new smoking" infographic you can see it here.
Time to ditch that Lazy Boy!