Hey There Week Day Warriors
(and members in good standing of the Transformation Nation)!
What’s UP?
Last week we played quite a bit with the idea of interrupting habits and routines.
The idea is to let go of the heavy patterns of thinking and behavior that keep us stuck and miserable.
And there is one simple habit that most of us modern people engage in on a daily basis that is quite literally KILLING US.
Want to live longer? Want to lower your risk of obesity? Want to lower your risk of dropping dead suddenly?
Then you just might want to STOP this insidious, evil habit…
Are you ready? Want to know what the worst habit or “routine” is that we all do?
Drum roll please….
The worst physical habit we do is….
Sitting.
All day.
Every day.
Working at a desk while sitting in a chair.
Then sitting in our car for our commute,
Then sitting on the couch to “relax”.
Sitting. sitting. sitting. sitting.
Study after study has demonstrated that even working out for an hour every day can not undo the damage that sitting on our butts all does to us.
Don’t believe me? Fine.
Watch this:
And then read this.
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The evidence is overwhelming and crystal clear: avoiding sitting is a key component of a health-promoting lifestyle.
According to Dr. James Levine, co-director of the Mayo Clinic and the Arizona State University Obesity Initiative, some 10,000 publications have shown that sitting is harmful to your health.
He was one of the first to bring attention to this controversial subject, and even wrote a book about it called “Get Up!: Why Your Chair Is Killing You and What You Can Do About It.”
Prolonged sitting actively promotes dozens of chronic diseases, including obesity and type 2 diabetes. Even more remarkable, this holds true even if you’re very fit and exercise regularly.
It’s also an independent risk factor for an early death even if you lead an otherwise healthy lifestyle.
In fact, chronic sitting has a mortality rate similar to smoking.1 And, the less you exercise, the more pronounced the detrimental effects of sitting become. Research also shows that your risk for anxiety and depression rises right along with hours spent in your chair. Read the full article by Dr. Joseph Mercola
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In my own experience, it was only AFTER I ditched my chair and started working at my standing desk that I finally dropped the damn 20 pounds I’d been working on releasing for 4 years (and yeah, I also dumped sugar and added in my slow motion “slow burn” exercise into the mix) but it was getting rid of the chair that was for me the real deciding factor.
So as we continue to interrupt patterns and routines this week (thought I was done with that LAST week huh? NOPE. Still working on it… until it becomes a habit. And then we’ll even interrupt THAT :o)
Actually I’ve been working on interrupting patterns and routines since 1993 or so…
MOSTLY the emotional and mental ones that caused me so much pain but the physical ones are crucial as well.
Speaking of surfing… (my OTHER theme from last week) “um Mark, WERE we speaking of surfing?”
Well we ARE now!
One of the other things I admire about surfers is that EVERY WAVE IS DIFFERENT. You can’t surf routinely. You have to constantly adjust to what the wave is actually doing. Not the last wave not the next wave, but THIS wave.
PLUS most surfing is done STANDING UP. LOL.
See how it all ties in together?
Now get up dammit and head over to human resources and put in a request for a standing desk. Or take TOTAL response-ability and buy or make your own.
I just stacked a small coffee table on top of the table that I was using for my desk. The cost? Zero. The time? About 5 minutes.
Try it you’ll like it.
COWABUNGAH!
– Mark
p.s. isn’t it GREAT to be alive right now?
If you would like to go deeper with me in creating better, healthier patterns, habits and routines in your health and fitness, check out my “out-STANDING” course, “It’s Not Just About The Food: The Online Weight Loss Hypnosis Revolution”
photo credit – Copyright: jackrust / 123RF Stock Photo
