Tag Archives: sitting

Try This Healthier Work-At-Home Fitness Routine

Congratulations! You have finally escaped the cube farm and negotiated a work-from-home schedule. You imagine sleeping in a little later, trading high heels and skirts for sneakers and sweats, and saving a ton of money skipping your morning latte run in favor of your own Keurig creation.

Working from home can help work/life balance and put some money back in your bank account, but there are also drawbacks. According to a 2024 US Bureau of Labor Statistics study, telecommuting may actually cause your boss to have higher expectations about your ability to work more hours, including nights and weekends.

Your own expectations about what you can do with this new-found freedom may also be slightly askew. If your job required hours of sitting before, don’t expect that to change because the treadmill is now in the next room. You may find yourself moving less because your co-workers aren’t stopping by your desk to ask you out for lunch or you don’t get to climb a few flights of stairs on your way to your next meeting.

Working from home requires setting some clear boundaries about not only your office hours, but also meal and exercise breaks. Use these tips to help you create a new “work at home” fitness routine. (more…)

Posted on May 4, 2024 by Pamela

Fitness And Health Video Clips that Just May Change Your Life

Some fitness and health shorts may actually motivate you to take action. I can’t help but follow along when Jillian Michaels teaches Ellen new moves; Mandy Ingber’s 4-minute yoga routine makes my triceps burn; and watching the step-by-step instructions for making a (healthy!) bacon, egg, and, cheese stuffed donut is enough to make my stomach growl, even if I don’t actually make a dozen myself.

But there’s another type of inspiring exercise and wellness video out there that’s perhaps even more touching and life-altering: The kind that shares new perspectives, success stories, and hope. Here are some of our favorites, which cover everything from longevity to popping and locking.

Nilofer Merchant talks about how walking meetings can burn calories—and change your perspective:

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Posted on January 24, 2024 by Jessica Cassity

3 Easy Steps to Improve Your Posture at Your Desk

Rounded shoulders, neck pain, and an aching low back are just a few of the side effects of having a desk job. Sitting for hours in front of a computer not only shortens your life expectancy; it can permanently affect your posture.

The following tips will help you maintain a healthy desk posture for increased energy, better health, and a reduction in bodily aches and pains.

Sit on your sit bones

The ischial tuberosities, otherwise known as the “sit bones,” comprise the base of the pelvis and set the foundation for proper sitting posture. Most of us tend to rock behind our sit bones, placing the low back in a stressful C-curve position. This constant misalignment negatively affects not just the low back, but also the shoulders and neck. (more…)

Posted on May 9, 2024 by Jill

Four Day per Week Exercise Recommendation May do More Harm Than Good

We, as a society, are far too sedentary. We hear more and more than we’re killing ourselves by sitting and that the least amount of exercise we can get away with each week is 150 minutes, or 30 minutes on five days a week. Most people balk at that, citing that even a brief half hour most days is too much for their chaotic schedules. Could new research from the University of Alabama help you squeeze in a workout?

Four workouts each week might be all you need, according to the study just published in the Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. The study found that, amongst women ages 60-74, that they were getting as much out of a workout, if not more, by doing so four times per week than those doing more or even less. In the group that did three aerobic workouts and three resistance workouts per week, they did not train any better than their counterparts, completing two of each type of workout each week.

Fitness expert Jessica Smith balks slightly at the study results, suggesting they could be misleading.

“I would agree that you can do less ‘working out’ in one week (4 vs. 6 sessions), but I worry that this kind of a headline will make people think that they can just hit the gym four days a week and then be sedentary the rest of the time.” (more…)

Posted on February 19, 2024 by Natalie K

Increased Diabetes Risk for Women Who Sit for Hours

Women now have even more motivation to get up and move throughout the day. According to a new study published in the American Journal in Preventive Medicine, women who spend between four and seven hours each day sitting are at increased risk of developing the early signs of type 2 diabetes. However, this research does not show the same link in men.

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics spokesperson Jessica Crandall sums up the problem by stating, “The reality for many Americans is that we work nine-to-five jobs and are sedentary most of the work day, increasing our risk for developing type 2 diabetes. The good news is that type 2 diabetes is preventable through maintaining a healthy weight and engaging in physical activity throughout the day, not just after you get home from work.”

The importance of getting activity throughout the day is highlighted with the fact that the risks are still significant if moderate or vigorous exercise is added in after a long day of sitting. (more…)

Posted on May 3, 2024 by Descygna

Sitting is Killing You So Get Off Your Butt

I used to work for my dad in his office, the very first “real” job I ever had, and his favorite joke was saying that I was getting the “secretary spread,” a delightfully insensitive term he used to poke fun at the stereotype of overweight office women with flat butts munching out of candy bowls all day. Little did I know, while his delivery was anything but tactful, his message was pretty dead on.

If you sit for more than 6 hours a day, (think about work, driving, watching TV, surfing the internet- are you sitting right now?) here are some disturbing facts: your risk of heart disease is increased by up to 64 percent. You’re also more at risk for certain types of cancer. If kept up long enough, you’re shaving years of quality time off your life. Sitting is literally killing you. Want one more scary fact? Most people sit for 15 hours a day.

Why is sitting so bad for you? Let us explore.

While the effects of sitting also depend on diet and other health factors, let’s assume you are a relatively healthy person of a healthy weight. You finally land your dream job, which unfortunately, has you parked at a desk for the full work day, minus an hour for lunch, and few bathroom and coffee breaks, for a total of 6 hours. Uh oh. There’s that number. And keep in mind, most people sit while eating lunch and, well, during bathroom breaks.

Immediately after sitting down, the electrical activity in your muscles slows and your calorie-burning rate drops to one calorie per minute- about a third of what it does while walking, setting you up for weight gain.

Within five days of working your fancy new desk job, your body increases plasma triglycerides, which are fatty molecules, your LDL cholesterol (the bad stuff), and your insulin resistance. This means your muscles aren’t taking in fat and your blood sugar levels skyrocket, putting you at further risk of weight gain and cholesterol issues.