Good news for the desk bound…
We have all heard about the target of walking about 10,000 steps per day which roughly equates to walking 5 miles per day. Well many years ago when I worked long hours in IT some days, and lets be frank even some months, the possibility of me walking 10,000 steps per day was a pipe dream. I would say this was especially true in the winter when the dark skies, cold, wind and rain didn’t exactly entice me to go outside even though I love walking.
Researchers in Trondenheim University in Norway have discovered that in heart patients after just 12 weeks of walking 3000 steps every day, the hearts pumping function improved which in turn improved their ability to exercise.
They concluded that moderate continuous exercise, such as walking 3,000 steps or 1.5 miles in 30 minutes had as much benefit on the heart as more vigorous, intensive exercising. Moderate walking decreased the strain on the heart, improved heart muscle function, improved blood vessel dilatation, helped form new blood vessels and lowered blood pressure.
On average a sedentary person completes between 1,000 to 3,000 steps per day. Which is good news for the desk bound as you can now aim for 3,000 continuous steps which is much easier to achieve than 10,000!
Reference
http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/early/2017/01/19/CIRCULATIONAHA.116.022924
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Hypertension – Lifestyle factors
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Is slouching that bad for you? – part 3
Modern man is born to slouch. But he rarely considers the long term potential consequences:
In addition it may also make you... Sad and Shy A study of 110 students by San Francisco State University last year found those who walked with a slouched body posture reported feeling more depressed and having lower energy levels than those who were more upright. Study leader Erik Peper, a professor of health education at the university, says sitting or standing up straight with shoulders back does not just give other people a good impression, but also sends a message to the brain that makes us feel better about ourselves. ‘We tend to think the brain and body relationship goes one way. In fact, the passages go both ways. ‘When you choose to put your body in a different mode, it’s harder to drop into depression.’ Meanwhile, in a 2007 study at Colorado College, students with the best sitting posture felt more confident — and scored significantly higher on tests — than those who sat slumped. Interestingly, though, the trend was only true for male students. Women felt more confident if they’d slouched, possibly because men tend to determine how they feel according to internal cues, while women think more about how they look to others — for them an upright posture made them feel pressured and self-conscious. So sit up straight!
