Get off Your Ass - Radical Movin’ and Goovin’

Being more aware and radical about how you breathe, what you eat and drink, how long and how well you sleep will give you a powerful basis for creating a super healthy lifestyle.

Another absolutely essential category for physical self-care is how often you stand, walk, and exercise. You are built to walk and move as all your ancestors did. They spent most of their lives hunting, gathering, herding, farming, manufacturing, or building things. For most of human history we didn’t sit in chairs except to eat. For many of us now sitting is how we spend the bulk of our day, either at desks or in cars or both. Sitting is proving to be related to huge variety of health problems. Our bodies are built to be active.

So how do we actually get off our asses and create more opportunities to move? I suggest you start with two of the options listed below and make them happen this week and then add others.

-Stand and stretch for 5 of every 30 minutes when you’re at the computer or watching TV. Set a timer!

-Walk a few blocks at least every other day.

-Take stairs whenever possible, avoid the elevator and walk up the escalator.

-Park further out in store parking lots and walk vigorously into the building.

-Stretch and walk a bit after your commute to and from work.

-If you must sit for long periods during the day, put getting up and stretching high on your priority list and consider standing at your desk for part of each hour.

-Walk and stretch before and after airplane flights and walk up and down the isle every hour on longer flights.

-Put on your favorite music and DANCE for a few minutes every day.

-Create a short full-body workout that you can do without going to the gym, three to five days a week. Most recent research indicates that for most of us short interval training is better than long sustained workouts.

There are many short workout versions online. Search for the New York Times 7-minute workout as a starting point.