I haven't joined the exercise challenge in a long while, because I never know what kind of exercise I'm going to be doing each day or for how long. I like to switch it up to keep my body guessing. However, I do need help sticking to a certain form of exercise, so this thread may be perfect for that!
I read an article a while back about how sitting (or standing) uninterrupted for too long each day can have a very negative effect on your health, even if you exercise regularly:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/ar...ing-kills.aspx. I spend a lot of time at my computer, so upon reading this article, I set up my computer's task scheduler to send me a message every 15 minutes telling me to stand up. That's all I have to do: stand up. I don't have to move around. I just have to defy gravity by standing up. However, recently I've gotten into the habit of ignoring that message, telling myself, "I'll stand up in a few minutes," or" I'm too tired to stand up now," or "It's too much trouble with my computer and cat on my lap." The thing is I'm working really hard at the gym each day for good health. I don't want all that hard work undermined because I can't be bothered simply to stand up! According to the article:
"It’s not how many hours of sitting that's bad for you; it’s how often you interrupt that sitting that is GOOD for you!”
AND
"Standing up once every hour was more effective than walking on a treadmill for 15 minutes for cardiovascular and metabolic changes,"
AND
"Sitting down and standing up repeatedly for 32 minutes does NOT have the same effect as standing up once, 32 times over the course of a day. To get the benefit, the stimulus must be spread throughout the day."
So my
GOAL is to
stand up multiple times throughout the day by following computer prompts which I've set up (or if I'm not on the computer, going by the chimes of my grandfather clock, etc.). I may not do it perfectly. I'll probably still hesitate when I have a cat sleeping on me, but my ignoring those prompts needs to change!
Thanks
Joy!