Читать книгу HIIT Your Limit - Len Kravitz - Страница 16

Before I introduce your HIIT workouts, I’d like to encourage you to start getting up more in your daily life. Yes, that includes standing up from your chairs. If your home is your castle, its chairs have become the throne. It won’t guarantee you bountiful riches, though—at least not of the good-health variety. Over the past few years, a large group of scientists have been studying what happens to our bodies when we sit too much. It is called the science of sedentary behavior. The word “sedentary” comes from the Latin word sedere, meaning “to sit.” In the US, sedentary behavior takes up a great percentage of the waking day for many people. In fact, adults and children in the US spend the majority of their non-­exercising waking day engaging in some form of sedentary behavior, such as riding in a car, working at a desk, eating a meal at a table, playing video games, working on a computer, and watching television. You will probably not be surprised to learn that a sedentary lifestyle can have hazardous health effects. Researchers increasingly believe that, as the saying goes, sitting has become the new smoking.

Findings about the harmful effects of too much sitting have their early research roots in the 1950s, when researchers observed that men who worked physically active jobs had less heart disease during middle age than men in physically inactive jobs. The researchers also observed that when physically active men did develop heart disease, it was less severe and later in life. Leaping forward half a century, in 2009, a large study from Canada found that there is a strong association between sitting and mortality risk from cardiovascular disease (and several other diseases, too). This study, published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, looked at the mortality rates of 7,278 men and 9,735 women aged eighteen to ninety years over a twelve-year period. Surprisingly, the study discovered that even if a person completes her/his 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a day but remains seated during the rest of the day, she/he has an increased risk of heart disease. The bottom line: long periods of sitting during your waking day are unsafe to your health.

Why is it so unhealthy to sit for sustained periods of time on a daily basis? Scientist believe when you sit too much during your waking day, the bad cholesterol (LDL cholesterol) starts to accumulate more plaque in your arteries. Simultaneously, the good cholesterol (HDL cholesterol) decreases, making it less available for cleaning up the plaque. Once a lot of plaque builds up in your arteries, you are vulnerable to cardiovascular disease.

All of the new research on the perils of a sedentary lifestyle underscores the critical importance of getting up and moving much more throughout your waking day. To help you accomplish this, I’m going to reveal a NEW slogan and goal I’d like you to shoot for every day: “For every 30, get your 3.”

Here’s how it works: for every 30 minutes you sit, I want you to get at least 3 minutes of movement. Yes, more is better, but to start let’s shoot for “For every 30, get your 3.” I realize some jobs, due to their nature, do not allow you to take a movement break every 30 minutes. I encourage those of you in such a situation to find creative ways to achieve your movement goals over the course of your workday. However, many of you will be able to get up out of your chairs and move every 30 minutes without any restrictions. You get to decide how far and how fast you move—but just move. So start right now—get up and move! Go for it, and then come back to reading your book. I will do the same.

[A few minutes pass] . . . and we’re back. See, didn’t that feel great?

To help you get moving, here are some options for breaking up sustained sitting periods at work:

1. Standing up and walking around your work office every 30 minutes.

2. Standing up and moving every time you drink some water.

3. Walking to the farthest bathroom in your worksite facility when going to the restroom (if multiple bathrooms are available).

4. Standing and/or walking around the room when talking on the telephone.

5. Getting a standing workstation where you can intermittently stand and work on your desktop computer simultaneously.

6. Going for a walk break during every coffee or tea break.

7. Substituting sending emails to office colleagues by walking to their desks to communicate with them personally.

8. Making your next meeting a walking/talking/discussing meeting.

Of course, excessive sitting doesn’t happen only at work; it’s just as much of a problem once you get home. Many people spend a lot of time—perhaps too much time—watching TV, viewing movies, and/or reading books in a chair. To help counteract the effects of this, please do some of the following at home:

1. Getting up and moving during every commercial.

2. Taking a brief walk break every 30 minutes.

3. Getting on a stationary piece of cardiovascular exercise equipment, such as a treadmill or indoor cycle) and using it for several minutes after each half-hour of TV viewing or reading.

4. Standing up and moving for the opening segment of each TV show.

5. Getting up to walk around the room or house every time you read four, six, or eight pages.

Takeaways from the Sedentary Behavior Research

Our technologically advanced society has given us the opportunity to do almost everything we need to from our chairs. While this may have some work productivity benefits, being sedentary for so long can be very damaging to your health. In addition to enjoying the many great HIIT workouts in this book, I want you to strive to fulfill your new movement slogan on a daily basis: “For every 30, get your 3.” You can do it! Please be empowered and encouraged to teach it to your family and close friends as well. Remember, the ultimate power lies in the lifestyle choices you make every day. Get up, move, and enjoy!