NASA's take on exercise.

I have written before about how sitting for most of the day is damaging to health.  Just to recap; our lives have become extremely sedentary.  Our jobs have the majority of us sitting infront of a computer screen for most of the day.  This increase in sedentary lifestyle has meant an increase in a a number of health problems such as:

• Obesity
• Diabetes
• Heart Disease
• Osteoporosis
• Muscle Wasting

Until recently, these illnesses were associated with the inevitable aging process.  However, they are now affecting increasing numbers of people well before what is considered "middle age", and even children are being diagnosed with them.  Obviously our change in diet over the years also plays an important role in this as well as the sedentary lifestyle we have fallen victims to.  It has also come to light that going to the gym 3-5 times a week doesn't do enough to combat how long we are sitting still for every day.

Recently, researchers have investigated the effects of inactivity, they have discovered that not moving or using a very limited range of movements for extended periods of time has a profoundly negative impact on our health and longevity.

Dr. Joan Vernikos, former director of NASA's Life Sciences Division and author of Sitting Kills, Moving Heals, she was one of the primary doctors assigned to keep the astronauts from deteriorating in space.  Dr. Vernikos has explained why sitting has such a dramatic impact on our health, and what we can do about it.  In order to discover why regular exercise does not appear to compensate for the negative effects of prolonged sitting, some of her research focused on finding out what type of movement is withdrawn by sitting.

What she discovered was nothing short of amazing:

"Standing was more effective than walking," she says.

But it didn't matter how long you stood for, but how many times you stood up that made the real difference.  Her conclusion was that the change in posture is the most powerful, in terms of having a beneficial impact on our health.  You can see Dr. Vernikos explain it here: Vernikos Perpetual Motion

Our bodies need PERPETUAL MOTION to function optimally, and the good news is that we have plenty of opportunities for movement throughout the day.

"The key for life long health is more than just traditional gym exercise once a day, 3-5 times a week," she says.  "The answer is to rediscover a lifestyle of constant, natural low-intensity non-exercise movement that uses the gravity vector throughout the day."

Some examples of the type of movement she is talking about are: housework, gardening, dancing,

hanging clothes out to dry, rolling dough or stirring a pot of sauce... the list goes on and on, because it covers the entire spectrum of movements that we carry out during daily life.  However, our dependence on technology has made us lazy.  We have stopped walking to talk to the neighbors or family members under the same roof, we send a text or an email instead!  All movement subjects our bodies to the force of gravity and this is what is important.

We tend to understand that going to the gym, running, playing tennis or walking is considered exercise - and it is!  Don't get me wrong, by all means do all that, but in between we need to move more and we need to flip that mental switch to understand that all movement - be it ironing, vacuuming, dusting, cooking, etc are also exercise and beneficial for our bodies, instead of considering it the "daily drudge", think positively - your housework and daily chores are keeping you healthy.

I heard a conference given by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer on his book Excuses Begone!  He was talking about changing the way you think in order to stop yourself from getting stuck in a rut.  He says that believing is everything and you should only believe what you think and not take on other peoples beliefs.  He is talking about typical thoughts such as; "Oh I can't do that!  My mother told me I was hopeless at doing that!" During the conference he talked about a study that was carried out on the power of belief - belief as in believing in what you are doing is beneficial to you - changing your mindset, in other words.  They study controllers took two groups of hotel chamber maids from 2 different hotels in New York.  One group was given coaching to perceive their work as physical exercise and as such was beneficial to their health.  The other group just carried on as usual, neither group changed their diet.  Over time, the study showed that the group that had received coaching to see their job in a different way, had lost weight, the other group remained the same.

So, what we need to do is to use our bodies in the way they were designed to be used?  We need to avoid sitting for long periods of time.  So stand up at regular intervals as often as possible.  Set an alarm on your phone and, while at work, stand up every 10 minutes and stretch, or take a brief walk to the bathroom and back, or go and drink a glass of water, etc..  Dr. Vernikos states that standing up every 10 - 15 minutes could easily compensate for the majority of the damage caused from sitting.  Dr. Vernikos' research is strong evidence that many of the health problems people suffer today are connected to modern lifestyle modifications, and these modifications are incompatible with optimal biological functioning.  The answer is easy; we simply need to go back to a lifestyle that incorporates NATURAL MOVEMENT.

I find it very difficult to see Coca Cola as an advocate for healthy living - especially when their products are so full of either sugar or aspartame - both of which are seriously damaging to health, however, their latest advertisement encouraging people to stand up is, at least, a step in the right direction.  So, it is now in your hands... or should I say in your feet?  Stand up to disease and stand up for good health!

Social Nutrition:
You can make an appointment to improve your health with Social Nutrition either in person (Madrid) or online (Skype).  Just send an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com