Sarah’s Health Notes: Get up, stand up, walk about!
Thanks to consultant cardiologist Dr. Aseem Malhotra for tweeting recently about research that highlights the importance of getting up from your desk every 30 minutes and moving around – two or three minutes makes all the difference.
For the many millions of us who sit for long hours at our desk, it’s vital to know that spending 30 to 60 minutes at the gym or out running does not compensate for the very real risks of ‘sitting disease’. Nothing wrong with a chunk of vigorous activity – in fact it’s a great idea – but along with that you need to take frequent low intensity breaks from being glued to your screen (or even an old-fashioned book).
You don't have to do anything big or complicated: just stretch, walk around, have a water cooler moment with colleagues, go over to a window and look out.
In addition, be (literally) pro-active by organising meetings where participants stand or walk and stroll as you phone, as entrepreneur Jennifer Irvine, founder of The Pure Package gourmet delivery service, does. ‘I keep a pair of flats in my bag and walk around the office when I’m on the phone. We do a lot of walking meetings as a team; it gets the ideas flowing. Plus we have sitting balls and standing desks in the office.’
Try to get outside at lunchtime and walk round for ten minutes or more. Bonus points if that’s in a green space. Also, plan to walk some or all of the way to your workplace, or if you’re WFH go out for a walk first thing.
Apply the same principles at home while you’re watching TV – press pause on Netflix and get up during commercials.
Even walking up and downstairs can have a marked effect, and it’s particularly helpful if you haven’t had enough sleep. One study showed that ten minutes of stair walking was more energising than an espresso for a sleep-deprived group.
We burn less energy, fat and fuel when we’re sitting and that puts us at higher risk of putting on weight and heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Back problems are more common for people with sedentary lifestyles, as is constipation. It also, as I know from my own family experience, increases the risk of deep vein thrombosis, especially if it’s combined with being dehydrated. Read that story here.
So the bottom line is that moving around every 30 minutes or so can help shift weight, avert chronic disease and improve your mental health too. Recent research also suggests that breaking up prolonged spells of sitting can help blood flow to the brain and thus memory, focus and generally how you function at work.
Whoops, there’s my 30-minute alarm. Must go and - well, you know the mantra: get up, stand up, and walk about… (and in my case have a look at my garden).
