I found this article interesting from Dr Joe Mercola
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/a...=20160327Z1&et_cid=DM101538&et_rid=1416306282
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/a...=20160327Z1&et_cid=DM101538&et_rid=1416306282
“Exercise less, move more” and “nutritional movement”
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Sentinel
Bionic Poster
I've actually been thinking about this a quite a bit. I keep pointing out to relatives that I am not much better off than them even though I run/exercise daily, since I am sedentary for the other 23 hours. Just one hour less than totally sedentary people.
However, I recently read a link posted here that it may not be enough to just keep walking around now and then. You need to get your heart rate up to a certain point and keep it there in order to have a benefit (acco to the link/thread). Also, the other day, i saw a headline that "standing workstations" are not really helping. I intended checking it out but lost the link.
However, I recently read a link posted here that it may not be enough to just keep walking around now and then. You need to get your heart rate up to a certain point and keep it there in order to have a benefit (acco to the link/thread). Also, the other day, i saw a headline that "standing workstations" are not really helping. I intended checking it out but lost the link.
r2473
G.O.A.T.
r2473
G.O.A.T.
It starts off with seemingly common sense advice and ends up with a family sleeping on the floor with no furniture. That's the part I find interesting.
If you could get people to do what is suggested in the video in the above post, it would take care of a lot I think. And typically, anyone who would adopt the exercise suggested in the video would "naturally" improve other areas of their lifestyle.
The deceptive part is that, while 30 minutes of walking a day seems easy, it really isn't. It forces a lifestyle change at the most basic level.
I work for a small company, so most of us have to take on different roles. In addition to accounting, I'm the "Wellness Coordinator". This is the type of stuff we try to encourage in various ways. It's not particularly successful. I won't go into all the reasons why (they aren't really important), but the fundamental reason is what I cite in the previous paragraph. It's interesting to see it play out in real life with real people instead of just ranting about it on the internet.
So if getting people to walk 30 minutes a day is difficult to the point of being impossible, this should shed some light on the types of changes people are realistically going to make.
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Fintft
G.O.A.T.
I first felt the benefit of that change of 30-40 minutes of walking a few years ago: when I decided to park for free downtown and had to move the car at least once at lunch break...
A more modern concept is "walking meetings"....Anyway a walk boosts creativity or at least let us take a step back and see the big picture etc.
user92626
G.O.A.T.
No, one hour of intensive exercise is huge and vastly different and more beneficial then none. Not only you get to burn hundreds of calories, the blood rushing acts like a daily cardio flush of the bad stuff. 10 years ago I got my weight down to normal and all the energy from running only 15 minutes/day and watching my eating.
user92626
G.O.A.T.
Agreed. It's very difficult and nearly impossible for many people. I think the reason is they are not clear or convinced about the benefits. It's just hard to expense energy voluntarily. It is not easy or clear cut to get the benefits from a 30 minute walk.
Sentinel
Bionic Poster
I thought (in the 80s) the ballpark figure was 40 minutes of jogging , and keeping your heart rate up to (i think) 120 bpm for 40 minutes or so , thrice a week at least.
20 seems a lot less to me.
In Indian cities there are hordes of people who walk 30 minutes every evening, and many of them brisk. But not sure if it helps them, they look the same after years, but i guess they balance it out with unhealthy eating.
Although, I agree walking 20 minutes is better than nothing, but not sure if it really helps the heart as you say, but i guess you are the doctor here. Do point me to any links if you have them ready, thankx.
r2473
G.O.A.T.
I don't believe it's knowledge based. The reason are much more "non-reflective". Let's say it just comes down to habits.
It starts with "us", the 20%. By us, I mean the top 20% in terms of weight and health, etc. because that's about how much of us there are left. The change we can effect are to those who are closest to us : our friends, family, and even coworkers.
For concreteness, I know my siblings have impacted some lifestyle changes, and I might have done the same. I've always been involved in sports like tennis and skiinig, and also eating healthy. With the advent of technology, I tried out a fitness tracker on my phone due to hearing about it from my brother (who no doubt told everyone in our fam about it). Even though most days I do a few hours of activities and get over 20K steps, some days I was pretty sedentary (~8K). I've evened it out a bit.
All of us have warned another brother about his nutrient deficient diet, and how that is impacting him and his kids especially. He never liked eating veggies growing up, and it hasn't changed as an adult. He doesn't see the point of eating them.
Even without direct intervention (cause that's what it was), we can still have a powerful influence. Everyone in my family and extended family is generally healthy, and no one is obese or fat. I lie, except one distant cousin and his wife. I don't see him that much, but we met him and his new wife at an event, and they stuck out like a sore thumb. When I saw them a year later, i didn't even recognize him anymore.
Last one. My friend started at a new, small company, and he was the fitness guru. He started weekly training sessions, I think twice a week for 20 minutes to get his coworkers in better shape. It's not mandatory, but I think everyone goes out to the park anyways. They also go to the park once a week to play an hour of frisbee golf.
Point is, don't despair. It's not that hard for people to make small changes.
r2473
G.O.A.T.
For me it's ensuring I get high enough participation numbers. Then it has to be easy enough to jump through the hoops to complete all the steps to get credit. It's about our health insurance and the incentive we get for participation in stuff like this.
I'm not that concerned if it helps people. I don't get anything for that
user92626
G.O.A.T.
It is knowledge or specifically the lack of it. Go to a fitness forum like MyFitnessPal, you'll see so many people underestimate their eating capacity, overestimate their activities. They are not convinced about calories. They lack info on nutrients, how the body works, on and on...
30 minute walk is too puny to make any tiny dent when there's so much more involved. That's why people don't develop that habit.
r2473
G.O.A.T.
That's the theory our Wellness program operates under as well. If we just give people enough facts, they will surely change their habits.
I knew before I started doing this Wellness stuff for work that it had little if anything to do with (lack of) knowledge. I'm more convinced now. But, I still pass along the literature. All part of it.
Consider playing tennis rather than posting here
r2473
G.O.A.T.
How many hours a week do you spend doing these activities?
WildVolley
Legend
I don't buy this. A certain level of movement, impact, and stress on the joints is probably necessary for their maintenance. Walking for a few hours a day in various situations, reaching for things, and doing a variety of movements encourages joints to stay mobile and heal.
With bones, studies show that impact encourages bone density later in life. In rehabbing a wrist injury from tennis, a lot of exercises for my hands and forearms has made the biggest difference in reducing pain and increasing mobility. Movement in general with a lot of variety is probably very good for joints.
Sentinel
Bionic Poster
Thanks for bringing in the part of impact and bone density/strength. I did read an article a few months back about hopping wrt strengthening bones.
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Reading his posts reminds me of the chaps in Idiocracy. Or perhaps also Wall-E. I can't imagine what we would evolve into, if everyone followed suresh's pearls of wisdom
.
Sentinel
Bionic Poster
You could pull a muscle stretching. Perhaps just lying on the couch is safest for you. We don't want you getting another hernia.
Rusty Shackleford
G.O.A.T.
I thought all of us were evolving into Sureshs, as he is morally just, intellectually superior, and aesthetically beautiful.Thanks for bringing in the part of impact and bone density/strength. I did read an article a few months back about hopping wrt strengthening bones.
Reading his posts reminds me of the chaps in Idiocracy. Or perhaps also Wall-E. I can't imagine what we would evolve into, if everyone followed suresh's pearls of wisdom
.
Sentinel
Bionic Poster
But reading your posts is good for my bowel movements.
Big_Dangerous
Talk Tennis Guru
Yeah I mean they say diet is about 70-80% responsible for your figure, etc. So even if you workout an hour a day, you can totally undo that by chowing down on cake, cookies, ice cream, etc.
It is the new fad of moving all the time with a Fitbit that worries me. Most people who are not retired end up walking for one reason or the other - even in an office setting. They walk to meetings, sometimes take the stairs, walk to the cafe, walk to the parking lot, etc. Now they have started doing a lot more walking. One company in SD offers cash annually to their employees based on the miles logged on their device. They have been provided one, and if they can show they logged so many miles, they get the money taken out of their health-insurance premium or something like that. I played tennis with a lady from that company and she was constantly monitoring how much her tennis was adding to the count.
Ash_Smith
Legend
Knowledge alone is very unlikely to change behaviour - look at the number of people who still smoke despite the knowledge we have on the issues it causes.
Now, create an emotional response to the behaviour change and then you will see some radical shifts in behaviour
Dartagnan64
G.O.A.T.
While i think most of Mercola's stuff is pure quackery, there's nothing wrong with the general advice of sitting less and walking more. Of course it descends into extremism with the no furniture, nature school, grow my own veggies stuff at the end.
While I'm sure being active like this is great and all, the bottom line to all of us is 9.8 meters per second squared of gravitational force sucking us to the earth. Your body isn't going to hold up forever even if you never sit once.
While I'm sure being active like this is great and all, the bottom line to all of us is 9.8 meters per second squared of gravitational force sucking us to the earth. Your body isn't going to hold up forever even if you never sit once.
