Sit Less and Move More Often….can we all just sit, sleep and eat for 23 1/5 hours per day?

How many studies and opinions have to published before the benefits of movement are not only fully accepted but implemented in everyone’s activities of daily living. In 2017 the CDC, after reviewing the results of a national survey, concluded that less than a quarter of us met the minimum guidelines for aerobic exercise and strengthening and 50% met the aerobic guidelines only.  These minimum guidelines have been proven to provide substantial health benefits with just 150 minutes per week of moderate aerobic exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity as well two days of strength training. 

On top of this comes a new study from Norway, summarized nicely by the article Older adults can boost longevity 'with just a little exercise .  This study adds to the literature by looking at older adults and using verified activity data from tracking apps to support their conclusions that physical activity, even minimal amounts significantly reduced the chance of dying.  In addition, this study found that the benefits of increasing intensity of exercise and the benefits of doing more than just the minimum amount of activity was demonstrated to be even greater in reducing mortality, than originally thought.  In my opinion, these findings should be taken as fact, given that this study followed 36,000 adults over six years, making the data robust and with the use of activity trackers, instead of participant self-reporting their activity, the improved benefits from more exercise to be very strong, valid and reliable.

For those of you who have yet to drink the exercise Kool-Aid, I provide for your viewing this short cartoon to motivate you to sit less and move more often, 23 1/2 hours.  For those of you who already have the exercise bug, please feel free to forward this to someone you know who could benefit from motivation to move a little more.

Best

Dave Bodoff, DC, RN