4.17.18: Movement More Important Than Fitness

4.17.18: Movement More Important Than Fitness

To stay healthy, you have to move! And not just the traditional 3-4 times a week droning away on a cardio machine at the gym… For optimal health and wellness, you must get up from your desk – away from your cube – and move throughout the day.

A 2008 study at Vanderbilt University surveyed 6300 people and found that the average person spends 55% of their waking hours seated. Another study performed by the American Cancer Society has found that men and women who sit more than six hours a day are 48% and 94%, respectively, likelier to die sooner than their counterparts who sit less than three hours a day.

All the “functional” movement that you do throughout the day just living your life—washing the car, running errands, climbing the stairs, walking down the street to the store, and even things like chewing gum, fidgeting, and tapping your feet—is movement. It is not what you do when you go to the gym like group classes, running on the treadmill, or pumping iron. It’s non-exercise activity.

Studies have demonstrated that functional movement is actually more important than our exercise habits when it comes not only to weight, but also for health, vitality, and avoiding chronic diseases, enhancing energy levels, and even prolonging our lives. If you typically sit most of the day and are chronically low in energy, intermittent movement is a great solution

Get up and move again and again throughout the day, every day! Do this several times a day and it will make a difference in the long run. You can think of it this way: Ten minutes per day of body weight exercises adds up to about sixty hours of working out over the course of a year. Sixty hours of working out definitely boosts energy levels, tones muscles, and helps prevent that slow creeping weight gain as you age.

The Flashfit app can break the sitting habit and easily integrate with and improve your existing employee wellness program. With hundreds of fast and fun one-minute exercises that don’t require any special equipment, your employees can get moving right in your office. And Flashfit will track and measure all employee all activity, so your organization can reach your wellness goals and work healthy. https://www.flash.fit/enterprises

Sources: Mercola, Healthline