You do not need to spend countless hours at the gym, drenching your body in pools of sweat as you slave away on the treadmill, elliptical, or  stairclimber followed by hundreds of stomach crunches and endless bicep curls and squats to exercise.

All you need to do is just move!

The Center for Science in the Public Interest’s (CSPI) July/August 2013 Nutrition Action Newsletter features a 12-year study about the lifestyles of approximately 71,000 women (50 to 79 years of age).  The women were asked the number of hours they spent sitting at work, in a car, eating, and watching television.  At the end of the study’s duration, the women who usually sat for 10 hours a day or more showed a higher risk for a heart attack, stroke, or other cardiovascular symptom than those women who sat for less the 10 hours a day.

What to do?  Stand up, walk away from your desk, and move!  Additional research as shown that engaging in a two-minute walk every 20 minutes decreased blood sugar levels in overweight or obese individuals.

Other ideas, include:

• The next time you need to email your co-worker, sitting at a desk across the office, walk to his/her desk instead!
• Choose the stairs instead of the elevator!
• Park your car in a spot further away!
• Take a 20 to 30 minute brisk walk or jog during your lunch break!
• Try exercising before work to prevent talking yourself out of hitting the gym after work!  You will feel more awake and refreshed throughout the day!

Be Active! Be Healthy! Be YOU!

References:

Center for Science in the Public Interest (2013).  Nutrition Action Newsletter, 40(6), p. 12.