I need to find my inner Energizer bunny soon. I just read “Move a Little, Lose a Lot,” a book by James A. Levine, M.D., which says, in so many words, “Sitting is the new smoking.” I went for the book after reading an article in a recent issue of “The New Yorker,” for which Levine’s work was the inspiration.
Sitting is a topic on my mind these days, because, well, I do it a lot. Levine says, “Today our bodies are breaking down from obesity, cancer, depression, and the cascade of health ills…that come from what scientists such as myself have named sitting disease.”
Levine’s work focuses on “the calories you burn while living your life,” as opposed to those you burn in a physical workout. He has no complaint about exercise for the sake of fitness, unless we follow up our workouts with long periods of sitting.
The obvious culprits that keep us from burning calories while going about the business of living include cars, computers, televisions and video games. Jobs that keep us seated for long periods, hectic schedules that cause us to eat at our desks, remote controls, electric toothbrushes, key finders, home grocery delivery and electric screwdrivers also slow down our calorie burning engines. No surprise, since many devices we use every day were designed to “save labor.” We burn fewer calories daily than did our ancestors even 50 years ago and they burned fewer than their forebearers.
What can we do to carry out Levine’s maxim of “better to live on your feet than die on your seat”? I don’t know anyone who wants to give up his computer. But we can stand up often. Levin says we burn three times as many calories getting up from a seated position than we do while we’re in the chair. Other small calorie burners include sweeping the floor, folding laundry, walking the dog and watering the garden.
Levine says walking as a normal routine is the number one way to overcome the negative effects of sitting. We can begin by walking around our yards, to the store, to a bus stop, walk while we’re on the phone, leave our cubicles to talk to a colleague at work, or walk across the street to talk to a neighbor. His research shows that small changes eventually lead to big results.
I’ve started taking sitting breaks by weeding, ironing and moving around the house more. I’m testing out another new routine: 30 minutes cleaning and organizing drawers, bookcases, closets, shelves. The possibilities for getting exercise in a cluttered house are endless.
Ann Oxrieder has lived in Bellevue for 35 years.She retired after 25 years as an administrator in the Bellevue School District and now blogs about retirement at http://stillalife.wordpress.com/.
