I’ve read a very intriguing article today that I wanted to summarize for you. Basically people need to expand their thoughts surrounding exercise to include the tasks that involve movement on a daily basis. Exercise should not be narrowly viewed as that ‘time slot’ at the gym or your early walk in the morning. People really need to look at ways to incorporate more ‘movement’ into their everyday routines. Did you know that in the last 150 years the average amount of calories burned on a daily basis from walking, working, playing, and fidgeting is down by 2,000? This is a staggering number! Why do you think this is?

There are many reasons…but lets talk about technology. We are so spoiled! We have remote controls for everything from TV’s to our cars, and stereo system. Our appliances allow us to press a button while everything is done for us. No more manually scrubbing our clothes or carrying a load of clothes outside to dry. Look around your home at all of your gadgets and think about how operating each one of them means less ‘work’ in terms of calories burned for you…What about walking…how far do people really walk these days?

Personally, I used to walk about 20 minutes to get to school each day. This was just normal. Nowadays buses pick up students and they are dropped off just a few feet from their school entrance. Gym classes have been reduced in the schools. There are more cars on the planet than ever before! People have TV screens that take up half of their living rooms! We now do more sitting on the computer to find information or chat to a friend. We have leaf blowers and snow blowers to make our lives ‘easier’ …. so that we can SIT more!

If we compare our lives to that of people in the Amish Community, it is proven that on average men take an average of 18,425 steps a day and the women 14,196 steps, which is significantly greater than the 3,000-5,000 daily step tally recorded by the average North American. Wow! This is a HUGE difference! The Amish people do not have the luxuries that we are so used to in our everyday lives. The men and women do a lot more physically demanding tasks each day. They are burning more calories just to live their lives.

So what should we do to increase our MOVEMENT or ambulating time each day? James Levine, professor of medicine from the Mayo Clinic, has created his work environment to include walking on his treadmill each day. He says that he will walk up to 4 hours a day within his office while going through paper work, and reading articles. Get creative! Try to incorporate walking into your workday schedule. If you are not able to fit a treadmill into your office…wipe the dust off that old stationary bike and start pedalling while watching TV at night. And don’t be shy to suggest going for a walk with a colleague to discuss work issues. Or you can suggest that the next office meeting be a ‘walking meeting.’

I also suggest to get active with your kids! Instead of sitting on the bench at the park, get up and chase them. Climb the equipment…find that playful side in you! Instead of driving to the store for one item, take your bike or walk. It really is the ‘little things’ that we do that will add to the burned calories in your week.

Now that you’ve read this…get MOVING!! Wash your car…ride your bike…bring the dog for a walk…

Cheers to health,

Angie
ISSA – C.P.T., B.Ed.