"If
there's a fountain of youth, it is probably physical activity." – Toni
Yancey
Over this past Labor Day long weekend, my husband and I celebrated the holiday by laboring. Lots: on our house remodel and front yard redo. There was excessive physical activity involved (maybe more than our 56-year-old bodies can handle, but let’s not talk about that). So of course it’s welcome news to read the research that shows benefits of physical activity to every organ system in the body. Not that we move so much all the time – we don’t – so reading of the benefits also motivates me to aim toward making physical activity a priority (at least a little? I still have my moments of just plain lazy).
With summer mostly over and many of us back to sitting lots, possibly we can consider this research, and intend on moving every hour of awake time, even if only for a few minutes.
Dr. Toni Yancey, a professor in the health services department and co-director of the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity at the University of California, Los Angeles, has worked for years on developing programs to motivate people to get up and move. Yancey says there are things individuals can do at their desks to break up a day of inactivity and get moving, even if just for a few minutes, and recommends a few minutes of movement every hour.
A couple of studies:
1) An Australian study (2008, mentioned in this npr article found that mini-breaks, just one minute long throughout the day, can actually make a difference. You can simply stand up, dance about, wiggle around, take a few steps back and forth, march in place. These simple movements can help lower blood sugar, triglycerides, cholesterol and waist size.
Those
who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to
find time for illness. - Edward Stanley
2) Epidemiologist Steven Blair, a professor of public health at the University of South Carolina who has spent 40 years investigating physical activity and health, headed a study that looked at adult men and their risk of dying from heart disease. He calculated how much time the men spent sitting — in their cars, at their desks, in front of the TV. "Those who were sitting more were substantially more likely to die," Blair says.
Specifically, he found that men who reported more than 23 hours a week of sedentary activity had a 64 percent greater risk of dying from heart disease than those who reported less than 11 hours a week of sedentary activity. And many of these men routinely exercised. Blair says scientists are just beginning to learn about the risks of a mostly sedentary day.
"We're finding that people who sit more have less desirable levels" of cholesterol, blood sugar, triglycerides and even waist size, he says, which increases the risk of diabetes, heart disease and a number of health problems.
Fall is a favorite season of many. Maybe this September holds for you some walks outside to take in the pleasant fall weather and colors? Or to possibly bike or dance or jump or rake or plant or _____ (please, fill in the blank).
May this September include intentional and enjoyable physical activity for you.
May you be happy, and peaceful, and active, and healthy, and at ease.
May you love all the ways you move.
PRAYER
May I never not be frisky,
May I never not be risqué.
May my ashes, when you have them, friend,
and give them to the ocean,
leap in the froth of the waves,
still loving movement,
still ready, beyond all else,
to dance for the world.
– Mary Oliver
"May God
himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and
whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body—and keep you fit for the
coming of our Master, Jesus Christ." - I Thessalonians 5:23
